To further its efforts to include “cyberspace” as a real domain where it must conduct operations, the Air Force not only added the term to its mission statement but also has created the Air Force Cyberspace Task Force, headed by Lani Kass, a former professor of strategy at the National War College. She says, “We have to be able to give commanders the ability to conduct offensive, defensive, and exploitation operations.” The job of the task force will be to evaluate gaps and vulnerabilities and project new capabilities. Kass cautions, “Anything we can create to exploit and control in cyberspace can be done to us and done cheaper and faster.”
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.