The Pentagon announced that Defense Department forensic experts have identified the remains of 1st Lt. Robert F. Dees, an F-84 pilot from Moultrie, Ga., missing in action from the Korean War. They were returned to his family for burial with full military honors. His funeral was scheduled for Jan. 22 in Ozark, Ala. On Oct. 9, 1952, Dees’ F-84 went down while attacking enemy boxcars on the railroad near Sinyang, North Korea. He was 23 at the time. Airborne searches over the battlefield failed to locate him or his aircraft. DOD forensic scientists used his dental records to identify his remains from among the repatriated remains of thousands US service personnel buried in 1956 as “unknown” in Hawaii. (DOD 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.