California has dispatched 30 of its Air National Guardsmen, along with 30 civilian emergency medical specialists, to Ukraine for a week to participate in disaster response drills with more than 200 military and civilian counterparts from four Caucasus nations. In “Rough and Ready 2006,” the Californians are working side by side with teams from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and host country Ukraine, responding to simulated terrorist strikes on an oil pipeline, a railway, and a shopping mall. It is the fourth such international exercise for the participants, held under the auspices of California’s State Partnership Program with Ukraine.
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.