The US Air Force Academy plans to construct a new $29 million facility, beginning in March 2011, to house its Center for Character Development, which it will redesignate Center for Character and Leadership Development (CCLD). The new facility is slated to open in later summer 2012. In the interim, the school plans to create and fill a new position, the Permanent Professor of Character and Leadership Development, later this year. That individual will head the CCLD. Col. John Norton, director of the current center, said these actions “mark a significant first step in our journey to take officer development at USAFA to the next level.” Over the past few years, USAFA has rebounded from a wave of sexual assault allegations that led to leadership and policy changes (read Upheaval at the Academy from Air Force Magazine January 2004). (USAFA release)
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.