Twenty airmen assigned to two recently activated Air Mobility Command advisory squadrons graduated from Air Education and Training Command’s inaugural air advisor basic course tailored for missions in Africa and South America. The course is taught at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. These airmen—members of the 818th Mobility Support Advisory Squadron at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and the 571st MSAS at Travis AFB, Calif.—learned how to train, advise, and assist partner nations’ military personnel in the development of air mobility systems. With the course behind them, the airmen are scheduled to begin missions later this year. During the month-long course, the airmen learned skills like mentoring techniques and acquired foreign language skills and region-specific cultural knowledge. Course instruction also focused on building diplomatic skills needed to work in cultures where one-on-one relationships are highly valued. The airmen graduated last month. (McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst report by TSgt. Parker Gyokeres)
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.