Members of the 402nd Maintenance Wing at Robins AFB, Ga., dedicated a new $24.1 million aircraft maintenance hangar in a ceremony at the base last week. Workers completed the 86,000-square-foot facility nearly a month ahead of schedule, reported the Sun News of Macon, Ga. The hangar is large enough to accommodate C-17 and C-130 transports. Its design has the safety of aircraft maintainers in mind by incorporating features like a restraint harness system to prevent falls from atop an aircraft during service. Work on the hangar concluded on April 29. The opening ceremony took place on May 13, but the wing must still populate the hangar with equipment.
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.