Approaching inclement weather on the Atlantic coast of Florida on Wednesday pushed back the scheduled launch of WGS-3, the Air Force’s third Wideband Global Satellite Communications spacecraft, by 24 hours, according to Air Force Space Command. The new launch window is now Thursday from 7:22 p.m. to 8:43 p.m. East Coast time, the command said in a release. WGS-3 will be carried into space aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket fired from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. It will reside in orbit over the eastern Atlantic.
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.