The 
Air Force Research Lab announced the completion of a recent in-flight pointing exercise with the Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project system. “This test demonstrated the navigational and pointing accuracy of the CHAMP aerial platform, as well as the ability to correctly trigger the payload with great timing accuracy,” according to a release by AFRL’s directed energy directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M. Boeing is developing CHAMP under an Office of the Secretary of Defense-sponsored project. The initiative is meant to validate the utility of a high-powered microwave that is integrated on an aerial platform for use in denying, disrupting, degrading, or destroying an adversary’s electronic systems without the risk of causing much collateral damage. The pointing exercise is “one major testing milestone” of the ongoing CHAMP demonstration, according to AFRL’s release. Boeing in September announced the first flight test of CHAMP. (Kirtland report by Robert Torres)
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.