Boeing will be adding Dover AFB, Del., to its list of sites for a C-17 aircrew training system, according to an Aug. 13 company release. At Dover, the training covers both active and Air Force Reserve Command aircrews. Boeing operates and supports nine C-17 ATS sites in the continental US and, according to the release, expects to add another three in and outside CONUS by 2010. The company has been providing such training to USAF since 1992 and now also trains C-17 crews for Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. An ATS comprises a full-motion weapon systems trainer for pilots and a loadmaster training device. The new contract also contains an option for Boeing to deliver a fourth WST to Charleston AFB, S.C. Tracy Mead, Boeing’s C-17 ATS program manager, said, the Charleston unit would be “the first Air Force trainer we deliver that has simulated avionics instead of physical aircraft avionics.” Mead said the company plans to upgrade all existing WSTs with the simulated avionics to free the actual equipment for return to the Air Force as spares.
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.