Responding to questions from House lawmakers Tuesday on Capitol Hill, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz expressed some concern over the timing of the Obama Administration’s push to repeal the Pentagon’s “don’t ask-don’t tell” policy. “This is not the time to perturb the force that is, at the moment, stretched by demands in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere without careful deliberation,” he said. There is also a lack of scholarship and dearth of feedback from airmen and their families on this issue, Schwartz said. That’s why he said he supports the Pentagon’s recently launched efforts to study this issue extensively to minimize the disruption to readiness and unit cohesion should Congress grant the change. Schwartz emphasized that USAF’s standards of conduct “will continue to apply to all airmen,” if there is a repeal. (For more background, see AFPS’s Feb. 10 report and Jan. 27 report.)
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.