An Air Force C-130 transport from the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, last week transported more than 17,000 pounds of humanitarian aid to Tajikistan. This was the second US relief flight, following a C-17 mission on May 16, in the wake of the floods and mudslides that devastated the Central Asian nation’s Kulyab district in early May. The C-130 carried five pallets of emergency medical supplies and hygiene kits during the May 21 mission. The C-17 brought in 13 pallets of tents to Kulyab to house thousands of displaced Tajik families. A third and final relief shipment containing more medical supplies was delivered May 23, but Air Force officials did not specify the platform that delivered that aid. (AFCENT report by MSgt. Kimberley Harrison)
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.