A KC-135 tanker with the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 128th Air Refueling Wing had to return to its home station at Mitchell airport in Milwaukee on Tuesday due to engine trouble, according to local Milwaukee press reports citing airport and wing officials. The aircraft was en route to a refueling track near Duluth, Minn., to support Air Guard F-16s from Duluth when the aircrew lost the function of one inboard engine due to an apparent compressor failure. The pilots turned the KC-135 around and headed back to Milwaukee, safely landing the aircraft with three engines. None of the four airmen onboard was injured. (WISN.com report and MSNBC report)
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.