The Air Force announced yesterday that it is poised to begin negotiations with representatives of a commercial land developer for the use of 334 acres of undeveloped prairie land on Beale AFB. Calif. The Air Force Real Property Agency is pursuing this initiative under the Department of Defense’s enhanced-use lease initiative, which makes under-utilized land on military bases available to private developers for commercial uses. Kathleen Ferguson, USAF’s lead for installations, chose Beale Community Partners, LLC, on March 31 from among the bidders responding to a May 2008 solicitation after its proposal was ranked as most promising. Possible uses of the Beale land include light industrial facilities, a wastewater treatment plant and a rail-accessible development. The Air Force has more than 35 EUL projects in various stages of development at bases across the US and its territories. The largest EUL project to date is the Falcon Hill aerospace research park at Hill AFB, Utah.
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.