Air Mobility Command plans to stand up the 515th Air Mobility Operations Wing June 5 at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. The new unit, which will support mobility aircraft and crews transiting the Pacific, is the first mobility wing established outside of the contiguous 48 US states since AMC’s formation in 1992, the command said in a May 30 release. It will become the headquarters for the existing 715th Air Mobility Operations Group at Hickam and the new 515th AMOG at Yokota AB, Japan. “This new wing will provide an enhanced level of control for our en route structure in the Pacific, which includes critical locations for getting people, cargo and patients to and from war zones,” said Col. Richard A. McClain, who will lead the unit.
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.