US military personnel are conducting six days of health services outreach activities and civil engineering projects on Sri Lanka’s Jaffna peninsula through Aug. 10 as part of US Pacific Command’s Pacific Angel humanitarian-assistance and disaster-preparedness program. They are working alongside Red Cross and Sri Lankan government officials during the event, states an Aug. 6 release from Pacific Air Forces, the lead agency for Pacific Angel. As part of the activities, medical personnel will provide primary care, physical therapy, optometry, and dentistry in the towns of Alvain North and Atchelu, and civil engineers will help to renovate several schools, states the release. Pacific Angel takes place four times a year in different nations in the Asia-Pacific region. This first Pacific Angel event in Sri Lanka took place in August 2010.
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.