The Air Force is considering restructuring the 116th Air Control Wing at Robins AFB, Ga., so that it conforms to the organizational constructs established for integrating active duty and reserve component airmen. This unit was the service’s first Total Force wing when it stood up in 2002, bringing together active duty airmen and Air National Guardsmen under a unified, blended organization and single command chain to operate E-8C Joint STARS ground-surveillance aircraft. However, as currently structured, the “blended” wing “does not fit into” any of the Total Force Integration associations (i.e., classic, active, ARC) codified in 2007, service officials tell the Daily Report. Accordingly, the Air Force is mulling making “the 116th ACW as a TFI active association,” they said. “We fully expect the continued integration of the regular Air Force and Air National Guard on the Joint STARS mission,” they noted. A decision is expected sometime later this summer.
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.