The Air Force Weapons School pulled F-15s from Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., to temporarily fill a gap left by the loss of its dedicated F-15 aggressor squadron at Nellis AFB, Nev. “Having the Seymour Johnson operators and aircraft here is critical to achieving our Weapons School advanced training objectives,” said school Commandant Col. Adrian Spain in a Nov. 7 release. “We’re losing our red air … capable of replicating a high-end adversary with the standdown of the 65th Aggressor Squadron and the accompanying loss of those F-15C aircraft,” he said. The bulk of the school’s F-15Cs were passed on to Air National Guard units when Nellis officials inactivated the 65th AGRS in September due to budget cuts. A few F-15Cs were shuffled to Nellis’ F-16 aggressor squadron until next year, after which the school will be without an organic high-end adversary platform. F-15Es from Seymour Johnson’s 335th Fighter Squadron supported the school’s Weapons Instructor Course from Oct. 11 to Nov. 1, according to the 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.