This past week, large pieces of Air Force Materiel Command’s restructuring plan fell into place at Hill AFB, Utah, and Tinker AFB, Okla. On July 12, officials redesignated Hill’s Ogden Air Logistics Center a complex—the Ogden Air Logistics Complex—and it became part of the new Air Force Sustainment Center that stood up two days earlier at Tinker, according to a Hill release. AFSC will oversee the sustainment of Air Force weapons systems. “Mission-capable and -ready weapons systems are what is required to fight and win our nation’s wars. And that is what AFSC will deliver,” said Lt. Gen. Bruce Litchfield, AFSC commander. Also at Tinker on July 10, the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center became a complex and now falls under AFSC. The air logisitcs complexes will continue their missions, but without their former command staffs, thereby reducing management overhead, states a July 12 Tinker release. The changes are part of AFMC’s consolidation of its 12 centers to five to operate more efficiently, with projected savings of about $109 million annually. On July 13, as part of these changes, the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., became the Air Force Test Center.
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.