Keeping the B-2 Mission a Missouri Affair:
Missouri’s Congressional delegation announced Monday that the Air Force has decided to pair the Air National Guardsmen of the 131st Fighter Wing, currently stationed at Lambert Airport in St. Louis, with the active duty B-2 force at Whiteman AFB, Mo. The 131st FW stands to lose its F-15 fighters under BRAC 2005. The Guardsmen will become the first—and so far only—ANG personnel to fly and maintain the B-2 stealth bomber. Sen. Kit Bond (R) said, “I am pleased that the US Air Force found a way to preserve the 131st.” Rep. Ike Skelton (D) expressed his pleasure that the service “recognized the importance of retaining these important skills here in Missouri.” Skelton is pressing the Air Force to continue to modernize the B-2 fleet.
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.