Air 
Mobility Command’s Energy Efficiency Office at Scott AFB, Ill., intends to help the command save $500 million over the next five fiscal years by reducing fuel and energy consumption, says Col. Bobby Fowler, office chief. The office is using the commercial aviation industry as its success model, he told the Daily Report in an interview at Scott. Defense Secretary Robert Gates highlighted this savings goal earlier this month when discussing projected savings across the Defense Department based on the Pentagon-wide initiative that he launched last spring to shed excess overhead. The push for efficiencies is not new for the Energy Efficiency Office, which stood up in 2008, but Gates’ initiative has reinvigorated the impetus and drive behind it. AMC already has saved $83 million in fuel costs since October 2008, but officials acknowledge there is still plenty of room for improvement. Continue
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.