At the end of 2010, the Air Force had 330,057 active duty airmen and 142,153 civilian employees, according to the Air Force Personnel Center’s newest demographics report. (That’s 419 more airmen and 3,352 more civilians than listed in the previous quarterly demographics snapshot.) The current active duty force includes 65,886 officers with an average age of 35, and 264,171 enlisted personnel who are 29 years old on average. Women make up 19.1 percent of the active duty ranks. There are 14,192 pilots, 3,990 navigators, 1,434 air battle managers, and 29,878 nonrated line officers in the ranks of lieutenant colonel and below. Nearly 21 percent of the force is assigned overseas (including Alaska and Hawaii). The average age of the civilian force is 47 years. (Randolph report by TSgt. Steve Grever)
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.