The Air Force is demilitarizing more than 100,000 nuclear weapons-related assets no longer needed from its legacy ICBM, aircraft, and space test programs. Under this initiative, excess assets from more than 6,000 distinct stock numbers are being removed from the active inventory. Already, as of July 31, 45,000 assets have been disposed of this year. The goal is to eliminate another 52,000 by Sept. 30, 2010. “The de-mil program saves money we would otherwise spend to store, secure, inventory, and maintain assets intact, and allows the Air Force to manage remaining nuclear weapons-related materiel with greater precision, reliability and security,” said Maj. Gen. Kathleen Close, director of logistics and sustainment for Air Force Materiel Command. In addition to disposing of these items, the Air Force has a concerted effort underway to track more closely those nuclear-related items remaining in its inventory. (Kirtland report by John Cochran)
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.