Gen. Michael Moseley, USAF Chief of Staff, believes there ultimately could be two winners in the service’s tanker replacement program. It’s likely the first batch of 179 aircraft would go to one competitor—either Boeing’s smaller KC-767 or the Northrop Grumman-EADS team’s larger KC-30, but Moseley told reporters during a Foreign Press Center briefing Feb. 21 that “down the road” USAF could go “to a mixed fleet” of both smaller and larger tankers. There is precedence since the service currently operates a two-sized tanker fleet, with the KC-135 and KC-10. The Air Force plans to hold subsequent competitions as it works to replace its entire current tanker fleet. Reuters news service quotes Moseley, “So there will be a continual set of opportunities for both companies to compete.”
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.