Gen. Robert Kehler, Air Force Space Command boss, earlier this month visited F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., Malmstrom AFB, Mont., and Minot AFB, N.D., to spend one last time with each of the service’s three Minuteman III ICBM missile wings before they transfer on Dec. 1 from under his organization to Air Force Global Strike Command, USAF’s new nuclear-centric major command. Kehler held a commander’s call during each stop on his two-day tour Nov. 12-13. “I’m proud of all of you; thank you for what you’re doing,” he said in his addresses to the airmen of F.E. Warren’s 90th Missile Wing, Minot’s 91st MW, and Malmstrom’s 341st MW. And he called on the missileers to stay focused. “Our country demands that of us … of you,” he said. (Peterson report by SSgt. Daylena Gonzalez; Minot report by SrA. Sharida Jackson)
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.