The Air Force plans to send a team to 10 bases to study the strains airmen face in working at a constant high pace with limited resources. “We are at war and [operations] tempo is very high,” said Lt. Gen. Richard Newton III, head of manpower and personnel on the Air Staff, in a July 31 release. He added that the team from his staff would “gain vital perspective” to develop “viable solutions for the field,” such as streamlining unit programs and administrative processes. The bases to be visited are: Andrews in Maryland; Hickam in Hawaii; Kunsan in South Korea; RAF Mildenhall in Britain; Nellis in Nevada; Peterson in Colorado; Spangdahlem and Ramstein in Germany; Travis in California; and Yokota in Japan.
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.