The Air Force announced the 2011 recipients of the Lance P. Sijan Leadership Award. They are: Maj. Laura Dejong, assigned to Patrick AFB, Fla., senior officer category; Capt. Gilbert Wyche II, RAF Lakenheath, Britain, junior officer category; MSgt. Timothy Sterner, JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, senior enlisted category; and SSgt. Nathaniel Hoag, Pope Field, N.C., junior enlisted category. USAF officials will present the award to each of the four airmen at a later date. The Sijan Award is bestowed annually to recognize airmen who demonstrate outstanding leadership abilities while assigned to an organization at the wing level and below. The award carries the name of the first Air Force Academy graduate to receive the Medal of Honor. (See also 2010 Sijan Award winners list.) (To learn more on Sijan, see The Courage of Lance Sijan from Air Force Magazine’s archives.)
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.