Maj. Gen. Byron Hepburn, 59th Medical Wing commander at Lackland AFB, Tex., received the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal. Gen. Edward Rice, head of Air Education and Training Command, presented Hepburn with the medal—the fourth highest award for an airman—during a June 16 ceremony at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland. The medal recognized Hepburn for his “exceptional meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility” during the period of September 2008 to November 2010 when he was commander of the Air Force Medical Support Agency in Washington, D.C., and then USAF’s deputy surgeon general at JB Anacostia-Bolling, D.C. (Lackland photo caption by SSgt. Josie Walck)
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.