The Air Force Inspection Agency has created a “centralized team of nuclear inspectors” to ensure Nuclear Surety Inspections across the Air Force are consistent and standardized. The new team, which is called the Air Force NSI Core Team, will provide major command IG teams with “a tailored, dedicated group of highly skilled, very proficient nuclear inspectors whose primary mission is to augment 10 to 14 NSIs per year across all nuclear Majcoms,” said Maj. Gen. Garry Dean, USAF deputy IG. He added that subject matter experts assigned to the team would receive training and certification as nuclear inspectors and would gain experience “across the Air Force nuclear enterprise.” The team, which initially has four members, but could expand to 20, will join forces with a Majcom IG team to form a single inspection unit that is led by the Majcom IG team chief, said, Lt. Col. Phillip Layman, with AFIA’s Inspection and Oversight Directorate. Forming a core NSI team was part of USAF’s nuclear enterprise roadmap released last fall. (AFIA report by Daniel Monahan)
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.