The Air Force 
First Sergeants Academy, part of Air University at Maxwell AFB, Ala., is developing a monument that will be built at the base’s Enlisted Heritage Hall museum to honor the work and dedication of Air Force first sergeants. The monument is slated to be ready for dedication in time for next year’s senior enlisted leadership summit at Maxwell. It will consist of two life-sized statues of first sergeants, one male and one female, placed on a granite diamond-shaped pedestal that will have the history of first sergeants engraved around the edge, according to SMSgt. Michael Bellerose, the academy’s director of education. The statues are currently being cast in Oregon. Already as of Aug. 10, more than $52,000 of the $90,000 needed to cover the monument’s costs has been collected. (Maxwell report by Carl Bergquist)
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.