Earlier this month, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that he had joined the Air Force Caucus. He said in an Oct. 9 release, “There are a number of mission-related challenges facing Air Force installations in Mississippi and this group should give me another venue for representing those interests.” The Senator already was a member of the National Guard Caucus.
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.