The Air Force is taking a hard look at how it can control costs in contractor logistics support. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, in a press conference last week at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., said many capabilities “have come into the force quickly” over the last decade of war, compelling the Air Force to skip developing formalized training programs, organic support, or even, in some cases, operational test and evaluation. But CLS costs are rising, and so the Air Force needs to give them a scrub as it looks for savings and the proper balance of work in-house and by contractors, he said during the Feb. 24 press event.
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.