The Air 
Force last week concluded centrifuge training for aircrews at Holloman AFB, N.M. After 22 years of operations and nearly 32,000 USAF and international pilots going for a “spin” in Holloman’s human centrifuge, the Air Force is consolidating its centrifuge activities at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, as BRAC 2005 mandated. Wright-Patt has been home to centrifuge activities for aerospace medicine research and is getting a new centrifuge that is expected to be ready for use in 2012. “[W]e’re going to combine the aircrew training mission and the research mission into one, so we’ll use the same device,” said 1st Lt. Jennifer Smith, commander of Holloman’s Physiological Training Center, which has been the human centrifuge’s home. Center personnel used it to expose pilots to the high G-forces that they would encounter in the cockpits of high-performance aircraft, like fighters. (Holloman report by SrA. Sondra Escutia)
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.