Active Again: The 525th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, is on its first deployment since reactivation last fall as one of two F-22 Raptors units at the Alaska base. The squadron sent 12 Raptors to Andersen AFB, Guam, last week to form part of the latest Pacific region theater security package rotation of fighters and bombers. The 525th FS became operationally capable on May 1. “The Five-Two-Five was closed down after Desert Storm after the large drawdown that we had, and it was reopened 15 years later,” said Lt. Col. Charles Corcoran, 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander, and added, “This is basically our graduation exercise.” Corcoran, a former F-15 pilot, said of the F-22, which he has flown since 2002, that it is “a game changer.” He called the F-15 a “great airplane,” but he said, “It can’t hold a candle to the F-22.” (Andersen report by SSgt. Jennifer Redente)
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.