Air Force 
transport aircraft dropped 3,800 container delivery system supply bundles in August to troops at remote forward operating bases in Southwest Asia, establishing yet another airdrop record. The August airdrops topped July’s mark of 3,600 bundles delivered, the previous record. Mobility airmen averaged more than 99 tons delivered per day in August, which equates to about six million pounds of food, water, equipment, and supplies for the month. “These airdrops are critical to sustaining ground forces at austere locations where other means of re-supply aren’t feasible,” said Col. David Almand, director of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center’s air mobility division, which coordinates, tasks, and executes in-theater air mobility missions. (AMC report by Roger Drinnon)
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.