The Air Force intends to add around 1,500 cyber-related experts to its ranks to support the US military’s cyber operations, said Air Force Space Command boss Gen. William Shelton. This growth will help to bolster US Cyber Command, which wants to stand up national teams and teams at the combatant-command level for its activities, “particularly looking at offensive cyber operations,” he said during a speech on Capitol Hill on July 16. AFA, the National Defense Industrial Association, and the Reserve Officers Association hosted the event. Since the cyber mission is a high priority within the Defense Department, the current, constrained fiscal environment will not prevent the Air Force from bringing on the new personnel, most of whom will come from within the Air Force’s force structure, he said. Cyber capabilities “are absolutely foundational to how we do business in the United States military today,” said Shelton. From major combat operations to humanitarian efforts, from the soldier in the foxhole all the way to the President, “there is dependency on space and cyber capabilities,” he said. (See also A Cyber Boost.)
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.