In marking up the 2011 defense authorization bill Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee opted to follow the lead of its personnel panel in tacking on another 0.5 percent to the Administration’s requested 1.4 percent military pay boost. Committee chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) ranked that addition as No. 1 of “two of the most critical aspects” of the markup. The other was higher readiness funding. Readiness panel chairman Solomon Ortiz (D-Tex.) highlighted the areas of increase, including “additional funding for Air Force accounts critical to supporting emergent missions and taking care of an aging aircraft fleet.” That includes $150 million for weapons system sustainment—about half the amount USAF had targeted in its unfunded priority list—and about $80 million for support equipment and combat forces. (Skelton’s markup remarks)
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.