The Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th Wing christened its new headquarters building in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Warfield ANG Base. The new 33,700-square-foot building “gives us operable space that we have needed for quite a few years,” said 175th WG Commander Brig. Gen. Scott Kelly at the March 8 ceremony. The $14 million facility will house the wing’s command section, mission support group, and medical group, according to a March 9 unit release. Some of the wing’s airmen are transferring from a 1960s-era building to the new facility, which features energy-saving materials and systems, states the release. Warfield is “huge to eastern Baltimore County” and the modernized facility demonstrates the Guard’s commitment to the area, said Baltimore County Councilwoman Cathy Bevins at the ceremony. (Maryland report by TSgt. David Speicher)
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.