Nevada residents have voiced concerns over expanding key fighter training airspace over a large section of the state, but Air Force officials visiting this week said that such worries are not “show stoppers,” the Associated Press reports. Assistant Air Force Secretary William Anderson met with Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and state politicians over the matter on Monday, which would impact training areas for fighters based out of Utah’s Hill AFB. The Air Force plans to add approximately 2,400 square miles of air space to existing space of 20,000 miles(most of which is in Utah. Concerns about the project’s impact on the environment, tourism and commercial flights can be alleviated, Anderson believes, since the size of the plan has been downsized already.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.