Military working dog handlers with the 99th Security Forces Squadron at Nellis AFB, Nev., hosted an explosive-detection training exercise with 25 canine teams from local, state, and federal agencies as well as private casinos in the Las Vegas area. The annual exercise allows the Nellis dog handlers to share their training materials and techniques. “The local canine units, like the ones working at the casinos, don’t have access to what we have, so we try to invite them out here when we can,” said SSgt. Kennedy Wilkinson, a 99th SFS dog handler. During the Dec. 16 exercise, the dogs were tasked with detecting hidden training aids and signaling to their handlers that an explosive was nearby. Although each training aid only had a single scent, the dogs’ heightened senses picked up tens of thousands of individual odors. (Nellis report by 2nd Lt. Laura Balch)
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.