President Bush has formally nominated Lt. Gen. William Fraser for appointment to the rank of general to serve as the next Air Force vice chief of staff, DOD announced July 11. Fraser, who has been assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since May 2006, would take over for Gen. Duncan McNabb who has been tapped to head US Transportation Command. Prior to the leadership shakeup of the Air Force on June 5, Bush intended to make Fraser compliance overseer of the US-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. But with the resignations of Michael Wynne as Air Force Secretary and Gen. Michael Moseley as Chief of Staff (see above), Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended Fraser to the White House to fill the No. 2 spot on the Air Staff. If the Senate approves Fraser, he would serve under Gen. Norton Schwartz whom Bush nominated as Moseley’s replacement on July 10.
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.