Air Force officials broke ground Sept. 1 at Hurlburt Field, Fla., on the building expansion project for the 39th Information Operations Squadron, currently USAF’s only cyber and IO formal training unit. The project will add 4,500 sq. ft. to the unit’s existing 17,000 sq. ft. structure. The new facilities will accommodate four additional classrooms, an observation room, and a simulation room. “With the building addition, we are maximizing what we have as well as building for the future,” said 39th IOS Commander, Lt. Col. Dean Clothier. The 39th IOS is a detached component of the 688th Information Operations Wing at Lackland AFB, Tex. The wing was recently integrated into the newly established 24th Air Force, the numbered air force under Air Force Space Command that will lead the service’s cyber operations. (Hurlburt Field report by 2nd Lt. Mark Lazane)
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.