Work has begun to revamp Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina into a predominantly Army facility with a small Air Force presence, following BRAC 2005 actions. The brunt of the effort falls to Air Force Reserve Command, which must dissolve its 440th Airlift Wing C-130H operations in Milwaukee, Wis., transferring its aircraft to other units and its manpower positions to Pope. At some point, Pope will pick up 16 C-130Hs. AFRC’s job is to find people to fill the transferring manpower positions. The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer talked with SMSgt. Lonnie Taylor, an AFRC recruiter, who has been in North Carolina since May trying to fill 1,400 positions, which he says is an unprecedented task.
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.