President Obama has suspended the US arms embargo on China as it pertains to the C-130 cargo aircraft. “[I]t is in the national interest of the United States” to issue “temporary munitions export licenses for exports” to China so that the C-130 could be used “in oil spill operations at sea,” stated Obama in a letter to House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Oct. 8. Back in July, two oil pipelines exploded in the Chinese coastal city of Dalian, causing oil to spill into the Yellow Sea. National Security Council spokesman Michael Hammer said the waiver would not allow C-130 sales to China, but rather landing rights in China for companies operating C-130s that drop oil dispersants on the water, reports The Washington Times. The US banned all arms exports to China on human rights grounds, following the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
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.