The Air Force’s two top leaders, Secretary Michael Donley and Gen. Norton Schwartz, penned a joint Letter to Airmen in which they outlined the steps USAF has taken so far to establish its new cyber force—including the recent activation of cyber-centric 24th Air Force under Air Force Space Command, realignment of other units to 24th AF, and recommending 24th serve as USAF component to the new US Cyber Command—but they indicated there is more work to be done. They wrote, “These are important organizational steps, but they are just the beginning.” They continued, saying that “significant progress” would only come through changing “the way we think about the cyberspace domain” with an accompanying “change [in] our culture.” The service, they wrote, plans to “develop a personnel strategy with compelling cyber career and training pathways,” and to “leverage the inherent strengths and talents” of its air reserve components. They also note, though, that “every airman must become a cyber defender.”
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.