The Air Force’s Air Advisor Academy at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., inactivated and was subsumed into the US Air Force Expeditionary Center’s schoolhouse during a July 10 ceremony. The training of specialized advisors to build foreign partners’ capacity transitions from Air Education and Training Command ?to the center’s Expeditionary Operations School under Air Mobility Command, according to a release. “What this does is provide a more efficient program,” said school deputy director Ken Arteaga. “It is important to continue the training even as we adjust to a changing budget environment,” he added. The move permits air advisor trainees to take advantage of shared training and range slots with the center’s other courses, and enjoy more exchange of tactics and doctrine with complementary disciplines at the school. The first class to graduate under the new arrangement began in June. USAF elevated its air advisory course to a stand-alone school in June 2012.
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.