The Air Force plans in January 2009 to deploy 24 F-22 Raptors to locations in the Pacific region. Air Combat Command will dispatch 12 F-22s and some 500 airmen from Langley AFB, Va., to Kadena AB, Japan, on the island of Okinawa, and Pacific Air Forces will send another 12 Raptors from Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, to Andersen AFB, Guam. The F-22 packages are expected to remain in the Pacific for three months. The newly formed F-22 force at Elmendorf first deployed to Andersen in summer 2008. A contingent of F-22s from Langley deployed to Okinawa in early 2007. (Langley report; PACAF report)
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.