The Air Force has decided to eliminate its seven battlelabs—created to deliver innovative initiatives quickly and at minimum cost—because it can’t afford to keep them alive. The derailment of these battlelabs—six created in 1997 and a seventh added in 2001—is one of those “tough decisions” the Air Force is making to balance “near-term readiness (Fight Tonight) and long-term procurement priorities (Future Fight),” explained Maj. Dayan Araujo in response to a Daily Report query. The seven battlelabs cover air mobility (Ft. Dix, N.J.), air warfare (Mountain Home AFB, Idaho), command and control (Langley AFB, Va.), force protection (Lackland AFB, Tex.), information operations (Lackland), space (Schriever AFB, Colo.), and unmanned aerial vehicles (Creech AFB, Nev.). Araujo noted that Air Force Materiel Command and other agencies would continue battlelab work “to the maximum extent possible.”
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.