Orlando, Fla. The KC-46A tanker has a new name—Pegasus, announced Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh on Thursday at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium here. Welsh said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James approved the recommendation from Air Mobility Command boss Gen. Paul Selva earlier this week. “Air refueling is the lifeblood of strategic mobility,” said Welsh in his State of the Air Force address. Welsh said he visited the first KC-46A on the assembly line at Boeing’s Everett, Wash., facility just a few weeks ago. “It will be flying in June, it’s a real thing now,” Welsh said. The Air Force will buy 179 KC-46A Pegasus aircraft, the last of which will be delivered in 2028, to replace the Eisenhower-era KC-135 fleet. However, USAF will continue to maintain 200-plus KC-135s, which will be 65-years-old or older when the last Pegasus is delivered. As a result, the KC-Y and KC-Z follow on efforts have to be real programs, said Welsh. “And they have to get going now,” he emphasized.
How Miss America 2024 Took the Air Force Somewhere New
Dec. 20, 2024
When 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh became the first ever active service member crowned Miss America on Jan. 14, top Air Force officials recognized a rare opportunity to reach women and girls who otherwise might not consider military service as an option.