Air Force, Army, and NATO joint terminal attack controllers and tactical air control party members are taking part in exercise Allied Strike that runs through Aug. 5 in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Allied Strike is a US Air Forces in Europe-sponsored, annual close-air-support exercise designed to build partnership capacity and help refine the latest operational CAS tactics. This year members of the Belgian, Danish, Dutch, German, and Portuguese militiaries are participating, along with their US compatriots. During the training, the JTACs and TACPs will be integrated into organizations modeled on the ones in use today in Afghanistan. “Almost everyone here will be going to Afghanistan at some point, and it’s important we replicate real-world scenarios,” said Capt. Todd Judice, assistant director of operations for the 4th Air Operations Support Group at Ramstein AB, Germany. (Grafenwoehr report by SrA. Scott Saldukas) (Allied Strike 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.