The Air Force has fielded a pilot version of the expeditionary combat support system, the new supply chain management tool that is expected to transform Air Force logistics. “Pilot A” went live about two weeks ago at Hanscom AFB, Mass., the pilot base for ECSS implementation. More robust increments will be introduced over time. Brig. Gen. Kenneth Moran, director and program executive officer of enterprise logistics systems, said fielding Pilot A “is a big day for ECSS, but it marks just another step in a long journey to delivering the full promise.” ECCS is scheduled to be fully operational around 2013, replacing hundreds of stove-piped, non-standardized logistics functions with a single, integrated system that unites the entire supply chain. Next year, ECCS will enter initial operational test and evaluation at MacDill AFB, Fla., and Ellsworth AFB, S.D. (Wright-Patterson report)
A new think tank analysis finds a hypothetical blended-wing body tanker could offer twice as much refueling performance as the KC-46A Pegasus and recommends the Air Force buy scores of them, as the service prepares to evaluate a BWB demonstrator next year and must juggle its future tanker plans with…