The Air Force’s B-1 fleet, along with its Long-Range Strike Bomber program, is moving from the oversight of Air Combat Command to Air Force Global Strike Command, effective Oct. 1, announced the service on Monday. The 63 B-1s in the inventory and some 7,000 airmen will transfer to AFGSC under the move, joining the Air Force’s nuclear-capable B-2A and B-52H fleets under the command, states the service’s release. The B-1s, which deliver only conventional munitions, are primarily spread across the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess AFB, Texas, and the 28th BW at Ellsworth AFB, S.D. “With a single command responsible for the Air Force’s entire long-range strike fleet, the airmen in AFGSC will benefit from better coordination and increased sharing of expertise,” said Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh. Plus, the consolidation will “help provide a unified voice to maintain the high standards necessary in stewardship” of the bombers, said Secretary Deborah Lee James. AFGSC spokeswoman Capt. Michele Rollins told Air Force Magazine the detailed planning surrounding the realignment was still a work in progress, when asked if the 7th BW and 28th BW would become part of 8th Air Force, AFGSC’s organization that oversees the B-2 and B-52 forces.
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.