President 
Obama appointed Jamie Morin to serve as acting undersecretary of the Air Force. Morin temporarily fills the leadership void now that Erin Conaton, Air Force undersecretary since March 2010, has moved on to become the Pentagon’s new undersecretary for personnel and readiness issues. “I appreciate the opportunity to make a difference for the Air Force and our nation while also digging more deeply into critical issues like space programs, energy efficiency, [Department of Defense] management reform, and the Air Force budget,” said Morin in a July 5 release. The appointment came on July 3. Morin has served as the Air Force’s assistant secretary for financial management and comptroller since 2009. He will serve in the acting position until the President nominates a new undersecretary and the Senate confirms the nomination, according to the release. Marilyn Thomas, the principal deputy in the Air Force Secretariat’s budget office, will assume many of Morin’s assistant secretary duties during this time, states the release.
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.