Officials are slated to break ground May 1 at Dover AFB, Del., for a new Fisher House that will be dedicated to families of fallen service members. Dover is home to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, which operates DOD’s sole Port Mortuary. Currently family and friends who travel to Dover to witness a Dignified Transfer are housed in local area hotels. Todd Rose, the center’s mortuary affairs division director, said, “Our mission is two-fold: dignity, honor, and respect to our fallen service members and care for their families.” President Obama donated $250,000 of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize money to the Fisher House organization, which said in a release the money would fund facilities at Dover—an eight-bedroom facility expected to be completed this fall—and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. (Dover report by A1C Matthew Hubby) (Also see Fisher House Web site)
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.