Ospreys Over Mountain Home:
Marines from MCAS Miramar, Calif., last week completed a two-week deployment to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, where they took advantage of the local terrain and Air Force hospitality to train with their new MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. It was their first visit with the MV-22s. “The main purpose of this training was for our squadron to become full-operations capable on the MV-22, so we can deploy,” said Marine SSgt. Travis Borkowski, a crew chief with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 166. Marine Capt. Eric Mann, squadron adjutant, said the training ranges near Mountain Home allowed the marines “to quickly and efficiently conduct training that would be difficult to get at Miramar, such as ground threat reaction, tail gun, and low-altitude tactics.” On Aug. 19, about 240 airmen got to ride on the MV-22s. (Mountain Home report by SrA. Benjamin Sutton) (See also Mountain Home News report.)
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.