On
Friday, Continental US NORAD/1st Air Force (Air Forces Northern) personnel and NORAD, National Guard, and elected officials participated in a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the new Killey Center for Homeland Operations and its approach road, L.K. Arnold Way, at Tyndall AFB, Fla. The center is named for the first Air National Guard officer to lead an Air Combat Command numbered air force (1st AF) in a federal mission, retired Maj. Gen. Philip G. Killey. The road is named for retired Maj. Gen. Larry K. Arnold, who was the second Air Guard officer to lead 1st AF and did so during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The complex will house 370 people, consolidating headquarters operations for 1st AF from 10 separate locations around the base. Air National Guard Maj. Gen. Hank Morrow, current CONR/1st AF boss, described the event as a “signal occasion” for the Air Force, NORAD/US Northern Command, the Air Guard, and 1st AF. He said, “We owe a debt of gratitude to General Killey and General Arnold, and this tribute was just a small way to ensure that debt is paid in full.” Both retired generals attended the ceremony. Killey said he was “deeply honored and humbled,” and added that “today, no one does their job more professionally than 1st Air Force.” Arnold said of the airmen serving under him after 9/11, “We had tremendous responsibility on our shoulders, but our people responded rapidly.” (1st AF 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.