A $1.3 million military construction project to expand the training facilities of the 39th Information Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., is now complete. The squadron is currently the Air Force’s sole information operations and cyber formal training unit. The new 4,500-square-foot addition will house nearly 200 computers, along with the classified and unclassified network connections and video teleconference capability, to instruct more than 60 students at one time. Lt. Col. Dean Clothier, 39th IOS boss, said the unit is transitioning more into mission qualification training as undergraduate cyber training shifts to Keesler AFB, Miss. “This new type of training requires a new type of facility,” he said, when discussing the new addition, for which members of the squadron held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 20. Construction began in September 2009. (Hurlburt report by Capt. Carrie L. Kessler)
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.