The Air Force announced Wednesday that Maj. Gen. William Chambers has been tapped to be assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration on the Air Staff (A10). Chambers will replace Maj. Gen. Donald Alston, who has led the A10 office since November 2008 and has been selected to assume command of 20th Air Force, which oversees the nation’s Minuteman III ICBM force. Chambers has been serving since June 2009 as vice commander of US Air Forces in Europe. He is a master navigator with 2,500 flight hours in the cockpits of KC-135, FB-111, and trainer aircraft. Initially Brig. Gen. Jonathan George was announced as Alston’s successor, but George has subsequently decided to retire, according to an Air Force spokeswoman.
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.