US STRATCOM boss Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton said there are positive side effects to rehabilitating the nuclear warhead arsenal. (See above) He proposes making the warheads physically larger than those now in the inventory and of such a design that they would be doubly hard for a terrorist to steal and, if stolen, wouldn’t work. Also, if the US fails to maintain the credibility of its nuclear forces, those under the US nuclear umbrella who have never built their own such weapons, such as Japan, might feel compelled to do so. Rebuilding a warhead-making capability thus discourages proliferation, Chilton asserted during AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando.
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.