The Air Force is examining how best to support the intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance needs of the bolstered US presence in Afghanistan next year as unveiled by President Obama on Tuesday, Lt. Gen. David Deptula, USAF’s point man for ISR issues, said Wednesday. But the service has already been surging new platforms and information-gathering capability to the war theater to support the ground troops there, so there will be no radical departure in USAF’s approach, Deptula said during an Air Force Association-sponsored breakfast speech in Arlington, Va. “The Air Force will be part of this plus-up and we are continuing to explore, ‘Okay, how can we deliver more, better, faster?'” Deptula told reporters after his talk. But, he said during his speech, “It’s not like we’ve been waiting around to determine … what is going to be the force-increase option. We’ve been building capability.” Continue
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.