Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, who heads USAF’s new nuclear-centric major command, on Friday reiterated the Air Force’s need for a new fleet of helicopters to replace the Vietnam War-era UH-1N Hueys that help protect the nation’s ICBM fields. “We need to move on” with the replacement program, Klotz told a small group of reporters after his breakfast speech on Capitol Hill that was sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation. Klotz’s organization, Air Force Global Strike Command, will assume lead responsibility for the Hueys and their notional successor platform, when it gains control of the Air Force’s ICBM forces in December from Air Force Space Command. At that time, Klotz will also become the principal advocate for the Huey replacement. Continue
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.