The Senate on Dec. 9 confirmed the nomination of Maj. Gen. Harry Wyatt III to receive a third star and take over as head of the Air National Guard. The Bush Administration last month nominated Wyatt, who serves currently as the Oklahoma Adjutant General, to fill the post recently vacated by Gen. Craig McKinley. McKinley, who led the ANG from May 2006, received his fourth star on Nov. 17 and became director of the National Guard Bureau. Since then Maj. Gen. Emmett Titshaw has been acting director of the Air Guard.
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.