George Sarris, a senior civilian aircraft mechanic at Offutt AFB, Neb., believes there are continuing maintenance issues that represent safety-of-flight concerns for the RC-135 aircraft flown out of the base, reports the Kansas City Star. Sarris and several other mechanics who work on the specialized reconnaissance aircraft took their concerns to the newspaper when they felt stymied by the Air Force. However, officials at the base told the newspaper that problems with Offutt’s elderly RC-135 aircraft identified by civilian and military mechanics have and are being fixed. And, they point to Offutt’s long-standing record for zero maintenance errors. Sarris maintains that he has suffered reprisals as he began pushing his complaints higher and higher up the command chain, prompting Sen. Charles Grassley to ask for an inspector general investigation.
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.