A new-build C-17 transport aircraft arrived last week at JB Charleston, S.C., giving the 437th Airlift Wing its 60th C-17. Charleston’s Post and Courier reported that Gen. Gary North, Pacific Air Forces commander, flew the aircraft to Charleston from Boeing’s C-17 assembly plant in Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 3. The 437th AW operates Charleston’s C-17s in concert with Air Force Reserve Command’s 315th AW under an association. Charleston hosts USAF’s largest assembly of C-17s.
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.