Air 
Combat Command chief Gen.William Fraser said he’s waiting to learn if the F-16 fleet can be extended “from 6,000 to 8,000 hours.” Speaking Wednesday afternoon at the Four-Star Forum at AFA’s Air & Space Conference, Fraser said that, once that answer comes, he’ll have a better handle on the kinds of structural and capability upgrades needed to “maintain viability” of the fighter force. Likewise, “we have some work to do” on the HH-60 Pave Hawk fleet, he added. He praised forward-based airmen that are “fixing them and making them work,” but he noted that bulkhead cracks are starting to appear where they never have before. “When you’re flying them at three, three and a half times what was expected … they’re burning them up.” He also said he has concerns about the heavily-tasked B-1 bomber fleet. However, Fraser declared, “I think we’re on top of it, we’re all working it together; we’ve got the right focus on it.”
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.