Airmen at Aviano AB, Italy, are the first at any US Air Forces in Europe base to use the new asset marking and tracking system, or AMT, for keeping tabs on their parts and equipment inventory. The Air Force is implementing AMT, a component of the Expeditionary Combat Support System, worldwide to standardize its logistics procedures. “[AMT] will provide equipment accountability we have never had before,” said CMSgt. Sandra Bronczek, Aviano’s ECSS change agent coordinator. For example, airmen at any location will be able to tell to which base any piece of equipment belongs simply by scanning its barcode, she said. Contractors have been adding these identifying barcodes to 13,515 pieces of Aviano’s equipment. Once that task is completed, airmen will be responsible from then on for marking all subsequent equipment arriving at the base. (Aviano report by A1C Katherine Windish)
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.