Air Force Reserve Command airmen from six bases spent Valentine’s day weekend boning up on the skills needed for their aeromedical qualification. The annual aeromedical jamboree brings together in one location, this time Charleston AFB, S.C., three different airframes—C-17, C-130, and KC-135— on which the medics need to be qualified. “It’s important to bring us together in a central location where we can get many of our qualifications checked off on the same day,” explained Col. Dom DeFrancis, AFRC command surgeon. He added, “The job these [aeromedical evacuation squadron] crews do every day, around the world is amazing.” For the AES personnel, “there is a lot of adjusting to the different environments each airplane brings,” said Col. Cherie Roberts, commander of the 315th AES at Charleston. (Charleston report by Maj. Bill Walsh)
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.