Dover AFB, Del., took 
delivery of the first of its C-5M Super Galaxy transports Monday with the arrival of the The Spirit of Global Reach from Lockheed Martin’s facility in Marietta, Ga. Gen. Arthur Lichte, Air Mobility Command commander, flew the aircraft to Dover. “Today, we get to add a new all star to the Dover team lineup,” said Lichte of the newly modernized C-5, which features new engines as well as new avionics for greater performance and reliability. The Spirit of Global Reach is the first of three C-5Ms that Dover will receive for operational testing, which is scheduled to commence later this year. Lockheed is upgrading a total of 52 of the Air Force’s 111 C-5s to the M-model configuration. The Dover aircraft was one of the first three C-5s to be upgraded for use in developmental testing, which concluded last August. Lockheed said in a Feb. 9 release it expects to have the remaining 49 C-5s upgraded and delivered to the Air Force by 2016. The company delivered the first C-5M—another of the developmental test assets—to the Air Force at Robins AFB, Ga., in December. (Includes Dover report by SSgt. Chad Padgett) (For more on the C-5M and USAF’s transport fleet, read Airlift on Thin Ice.)
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.