The Air Force’s sole wing devoted to maintaining its force of specialized battlefield airmen has activated the 820th Combat Operations Squadron under the 820th Security Forces Group. The Air Force last year stood up the 93rd Air Ground Operations Wing, headquartered at Moody AFB, Ga., which comprises the 820th SFG at Moody, 3rd Air Support Operations Group at Ft. Hood, Tex., and 18th ASOG at Pope AFB, N.C. The mission of the new squadron is “to provide combat support for the first-in mission of the 820th SFB,” said Col. Donald Derry, 820th SFG commander. The Air Force has tapped Lt. Col. John Daberkow, currently chief of the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Architectures and Systems Branch on the Air Staff, to lead the new squadron. (Includes Moody report by Amn. Brigitte Brantley)
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.