Air Force Materiel Command personnel at Robins AFB, Ga., are about halfway through Phase 1 of USAF’s new Sniper pod program. Lockheed Martin originally designed the next generation Sniper targeting pod for use on fighters in a traditional bombs-on-target role. However, it has proved enormously successful in both Iraq and Afghanistan as an intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance device. (Read “Pilots Praise New F-15E Targeting Pods” here.) Personnel at AFMC’s Warner Robins Air Logistics Center gained a workload of about 4,300 hours when it took on the Sniper program in a work/share partnership with Lockheed. By June 2006, the ALC expects to enter Phase 2—increasing its workload to more than 7,000 hours—in which it will handle electro-optical test and repair. Lockheed technicians are training the ALC Sniper workforce eventually to handle the majority of repair work.
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.