Maj. Gen. David Senty, US Cyber Command’s first-ever chief of staff, is set to retire Friday after 36 years of uniformed service. Senty, a mobilized Air Force Reservist, played a key role in standing up the command, which is expected to assume full-scale operations by year’s end. “We are building a command culture about the cyber warrior of the future, the importance of those skills, and the awareness of the operational impact of everything they do in cyberspace,” said Senty, who’s been in his current position since September 2009. He envisions “a very deliberate rotation schedule” for cyber warriors between CYBERCOM, its service components, and combatant commanders, as well as increased collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. Agility will likely be the command’s true strength, allowing it to adapt to a rapidly changing operational environment, he said. (AFPS release by Donna Miles)
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.