Air Frame: Year in Review, January 2011: Video and still images appeared on the Internet on Jan. 11, 2011, of China’s J-20 stealthy looking combat aircraft, shown here, making its maiden flight. That was the same day on which then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Beijing on his official visit to China. Also in January, Gates announced that the Air Force would shed nearly $34 billion over the next five fiscal years as part of the Defense Department’s overall effort to cut $100 billion in overhead. Also, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley acknowledged that changes to the F-35 strike fighter’s development schedule would likely mean that the service’s first operational F-35A unit would not be ready for combat until late 2016 or beyond. Photo via Internet
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.