The Air Force Research Lab has set May 5 for the launch of Tactical Satellite-3 (TacSat-3) from NASA’s Wallops Island facility in Virginia. Launch of the less than 880-pound satellite on its year-long experimental mission had been delayed more than once as program officials worked through repairs to some of its components. TacSat-3 carries three experiments: Raytheon’s ARTEMIS hyperspectral imager, the Office of Naval Research’s satellite communications package, and AFRL’s space avionics experiment. (Kirtland AFB, N.M. report by Michael Kleiman)
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.