The 74th Fighter Squadron at Moody AFB, Ga., recently became the first A-10C unit to field the Helmet Mounted Cueing System, announced base officials. “It will be a great advantage for the pilots,” said Scott Smither, HMCS technical specialist, in Moody’s March 15 release. The system, manufactured by Gentex Visionix of Carbondale, Pa., is a full-color, day/night helmet display system that includes optical motion tracking and integrates with older flight helmets, states the release. “Pilots will be able to go up in the air to perform the mission more efficiently and effectively than we do now,” said A1C Sean Crowell, an aircrew flight equipment technician with Moody’s 23rd Operations Support Squadron. Some Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command F-16 units also are equipped with HMCS. (Moody report by SrA. Eileen Meier) (See also Next Up For A-10s, Helmet-Mounted Cueing.)
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.