Oklahoma Air National Guard F-16 pilot, Lt. Col. David Serage flew his 100th combat sortie earlier this month during a mission over Baghdad. The Air Force Academy graduate has 19 years in active and Air Guard service, including flying B-52 bombers and, in the joint Navy-Air Force suppression of enemy air defense mission, EA-6B Prowlers. Serage left active service in 1999, joining the Air Guard’s 138th Fighter Wing and flying some of his first F-16 missions during Operation Southern Watch, the no-fly zone operation over southern Iraq. (Joint Base Balad report by SSgt. Don Branum)
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.