The new Air Force Reserve Command A-10 unit forming at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., will be the 45th Fighter Squadron, according to a release from Barksdale AFB, La., the home of the new unit’s parent organization, the 917th Wing. Site activation efforts at Davis-Monthan began in January as AFRC develops this new classic associate unit to assist the active 355th Fighter Wing with A-10 pilot training. The Reservists will fly Warthogs owned by the 355th FW. AFRC expects to man the new squadron with 24 members—an earlier report pegged the unit size at 14—over the next three years. Squadron leaders Lt. Col. Rod Glass and Lt. Col. Terry McClain are working now to hire the first four Hog instructor pilots and one administrative person. (Barksdale report by TSgt. Robert Horstman.)
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.