Exercise Key Resolve began Monday in South Korea, bringing together more than 2,300 US military personnel and nearly 10,000 South Korean troops. The 10-day drill features realistic scenarios to test their combined ability to respond to a crisis on the Korean peninsula, initiate defensive operations, and stabilize the situation. “We will demonstrate we can operate as a combined team to defend this country,” said Col. Patrick Matthews, 7th Air Force’s director of programs, plans, and analyses. He added, “Our relationship with Korea is not a coalition, it’s a combined alliance. We’re bound to help defend this country and we’ve been doing it for 60 years.” The exercise combines live command and control with modeling and simulation. Among the US participants are about 1,350 airmen spanning the active duty, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve. (Osan report by TSgt. Matthew McGovern)
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.