Ospreys on the Move: Air Force
Special Operations Command will not start relocating the first of 10 CV-22 Ospreys to RAF Mildenhall, Britain, until next summer, AFSOC Commander Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel told reporters during AFA’s Air & Space Conference Sept. 18. The first two-ship formation is expected to arrive by July and will be followed by another three-ship package about two months later, he said. The move was delayed about one year because five CV-22s originally slated for Mildenhall were in Afghanistan, he said. Eventually there will be 10 Ospreys forward-based in the UK and 10 more somewhere in the Pacific. The Pacific birds are expected to begin arriving at their new location in summer 2014, but Fiel said AFSOC is still finalizing those details with the joint staff.
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.