Attending the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference in Washington, D.C., as one of USAF’s 12 outstanding airmen of the year, SSgt. Kenneth Walker, with the Washington Air National Guard’s 116th Air Support Operations Squadron, received another honor—award of the Bronze Star with Valor by Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz on Sept. 14 at the conference. Walker received the medal for his heroic actions during a firefight on May 24, 2009, while deployed as a tactical air control party member with the 817th Expeditionary ASOS and the Army’sTask Force SPADER in Afghanistan. (USAF release)
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.