Cost efficiencies will come with next month’s creation of Joint Base Langley out of Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Va., and the Army’s nearby Fort Eustis in Newport News, but they likely will not be seen for several years, according to officials from both services. The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reported Monday that the new joint installation, mandated by BRAC 2005, will actually cost more initially until the consolidation of both installation’s support functions takes hold, citing Col. Glenn Grothe, Eustis’ garrison commander. Col. Kevin Altman, commander of Langley’s 1st Mission Support Group said the bases’ merger is “about getting more efficient and being more consistent.” The cost savings associated with that, he continued, “will be coming.” The 1st MSG is one of the units in Langley’s 1st Fighter Wing that will transfer in January to the soon-to-be-established 633rd Air Base Wing that will oversee the joint base’s operations.
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.