Earlier this 
month, airmen at Edwards AFB, Calif., towed the SR-71A Blackbird that is part of the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards over public roads to the base’s corrosion control facility for some primping. This SR-71, serial number 17955, will have its sun-damaged paint redone by expert craftsmen in time for the air show and open house at Edwards in October. (Edwards report by Leonard Moore)
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.