The Air Force is expected to release a new document, tentatively called “Energy Horizons,” in the coming months that will outline the service’s energy-related science and technology innovations, said Mark Maybury, USAF’s chief scientist. The document will serve as a follow-on to USAF’s most recent technology vision paper, “Technology Horizons” that was released in July 2010. Energy Horizons likely will pull lessons learned from nature, industry, and the other military services, said Maybury during last week’s Military Reporters and Editors conference in Rosslyn, Va. It might include discussions of innovations such as aircraft engines that are 25 percent more energy efficient, or possible improvements to space and cyber ground control stations, he said. The Air Force, as the largest consumer of energy in the federal government, is committed to reducing its dependence on foreign sources of energy and becoming more energy efficient.
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.