Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of US Southern Command, said the organization’s newly opened $402 million headquarters building in Doral, Fla., a part of greater Miami, “demonstrates the commitment of the US to our partners in Latin America.” The four-story facility includes 20 conference rooms, eight training rooms, and a number of offices. The complex, which SOUTHCOM officials officially opened on Dec. 17, also includes a 45,000-square-foot “Conference Center of the Americas” that gives users the ability to translate meetings into multiple languages and conduct video conferences. SOUTHCOM officials said they chose Miami as the HQ site because of its proximity to the 31 countries and 10 territories in the Caribbean and Central and South America that make up the command’s area of responsibility. (Doral report by Arthur McQueen)
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.