The 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, formally added four new squadrons May 5. The new units—the 655th, 755th, 855th, and 955th Air Expeditionary Squadrons—will oversee the some 1,200 airmen who are deployed to more than 40 forward operating bases and camps throughout Afghanistan while serving in joint expeditionary taskings and with provincial reconstruction teams. The squadrons are arranged under Bagram’s 755th Air Expeditionary Group. “As our mission roles have increased, it became obvious we needed to reorganize the 755th AEG,” said Col. James Reed, group commander, before unfurling the new unit guidons. The 755th AEG is increasing in size by 25 percent up to about 1,600 airmen in the coming months as part of the Air Force’s and the US military’s overall surge of forces to counter the resurgent Taliban. In January, the 455th Expeditionary Aerial Port Squadron, the first of its kind in the theater, began operations at Bagram. And in March, the 504th Expeditionary Air Support Operations Group stood up at the base. (Bagram report by SSgt. Jason Lake)
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.