The Air Force has reduced its overall attrition rate among airmen attending explosive ordnance disposal training by 16 percent in the last year, thanks in large part to the 2011 overhaul of its preliminary screening course, according to EOD training officials. Airmen entering the EOD career field now attend a 20-day screening course—up from just six days before the overhaul—at Sheppard AFB, Tex. The course is designed to challenge airmen mentally and physically and help identify the best candidates. Those who advance move on to Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin AFB, Fla., where personnel from all four US military branches receive training in recovery, evaluation, and safe bomb disposal operations. Since the screening course revamp, washouts among airmen at NAVSCOLEOD have fallen 41 percent and self-eliminations have dropped 33 percent, according to an Aug. 6 Eglin release. EOD candidates “are much more aware of what they are getting into on the combat side of the house, the missions they will be running, and whom they will be working with,” said SSgt. Daniel Sepsey, EOD instructor in the Navy-run school’s demolitions division. (Eglin report by Dan Hawkins)
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.