MSgt. Brian Fahey, KC-10 flight engineer with the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, flew his 400th combat sortie, a rare feat for an airman in his field, according to a release. Fahey, who is deployed to an undisclosed air base in Southwest Asia from JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., hit the mark on June 14, states the July 9 release. This is “a significant achievement,” said Lt. Col. Mona Alexander, 908th EARS commander. Fahey is one of two airmen in his squadron to reach this milestone; he is the fourth flight engineer and the eighth member in the entire active KC-10 community to have amassed this many combat sorties, states the release. He has flown 255 combat sorties on the KC-10 and 145 combat sorties on the Air Force’s now-retired MH-53 helicopter, according to the release. After 13 years of flying, Fahey has accumulated “more than 2,000 hours of combat time in the KC-10 and a total of over 4,200 hours flying in the MH-53 and KC-10,” said Alexander. (380th AEW report by SSgt. Joshua Garcia)
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.