Members of the first class of the US Air Force Academy’s unmanned aircraft system and intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance education program received their wings Aug. 11 during a ceremony at the institution in Colorado Springs, Colo. “You are pioneers,” Brig. Gen. Dana Born, the dean of the USAFA faculty, told the graduates. The class included 25 cadets overall, four of whom served in a leadership role, academy spokeswoman Ann Patton, told the Daily Report Wednesday. Their training included classroom instruction and flight training on two Viking 300 unmanned aerial vehicles at Camp Red Devil at Ft. Carson, Colo. “The biggest surprise was how much we learned,” said Cadet 3rd Class Jonathan Broadbent, one of the graduates. He added, “We worked with some really professional people.” The next crop of cadets participating in this program will start flight training next month. (Colorado Springs report by Ann Patton)
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.