Officials at Nellis AFB, Nev., last week transitioned the base’s 763rd Maintenance Squadron from Air Force Special Operations Command to Air Combat Command. As part of the change, the unit is now designated the 823rd Maintenance Squadron and falls under the 23rd Maintenance Group located at Moody AFB, Ga. The move is “going to be pretty much transparent to everyone that works here [at Nellis]. It’s not going to encompass anything new, and we won’t have to reorganize any flight, section, or anything like that,” said CMSgt. McKinney Crawford, the squadron’s maintenance superintendent. He added, “What the change does do for us is make sure we know what our identity is. And, that is very important.” Specifically, said squadron officials, it integrates the unit more closely with its sister squadrons—the 723rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Moody and the 923rd MXS at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. All three squadrons maintain HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters. (Nellis release by SrA. Jack Sanders)
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.