Air Force officials last week unveiled a RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft at Andersen AFB, Guam. The aircraft displayed is one of the three that are slated to call the Pacific base a permanent home starting next summer, Guam’s KUAM TV news network reported Aug,. 7. “By operating out of Guam, we have a strategic advantage in being able to get to an area of concern very rapidly and then staying over that area for a good amount of time to prosecute our mission,” said Lt. Col. Brandon Baker, who will command the Global Hawks, at the ceremony. In June, Andersen officials opened the new, massive hangar that will house the base’s Global Hawks. (For more, read Guam’s Pacific Daily News report from Aug. 8.)
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.