Air National Guard boss Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt III wants to see the creation of more associate pairings of his units with their active duty and Air Force Reserve Command counterparts that go beyond the changes already being instituted under BRAC 2005 as part of USAF’s Total Force Integration. “We need to continue doing that,” he said in a speech last week before the Minuteman Institute for National Defense Studies in Washington, D.C. On Oct. 1, three of the newest Air Guard associations formally stood up in Alabama, Illinois, and New Hampshire to operate KC-135 tankers with active duty units. Wyatt said since new weapons systems are capable of around-the-clock operations, as opposed to more limited cycles, manpower becomes the limiting factor. The Air Guard’s involvement could be pivotal in exploiting these systems to their full potential, he said. (NGB report by MSgt. Mike R. Smith)
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.