Air Force Reserve Command will stand up the 583rd RED HORSE Squadron at Beale AFB, Calif., in March, announced command officials. The mobile, heavy-construction civil engineering unit will be AFRC’s sixth such squadron and its first on the West Coast, states the command’s Feb. 7 release. It will comprise some 200 airmen, including civil engineers, logistics and support personnel, security forces, and a medical team. The squadron’s forthcoming standup follows the mid-January re-designation of Beale’s 940th Civil Engineer Squadron as the 940th Civil Engineer Flight. “Our current CE squadron will downsize by about 100 positions, with most of those positions being absorbed by the new 583rd,” said Col. Patricia Brewer, 940th Mission Support Group commander. While the 940th CES concentrated on base maintenance, the new RED HORSE unit will focus on supporting Air Force operations worldwide, according to the release. “RED HORSE is a heavy construction team, trained and equipped to take on large projects in remote, high-threat environments,” said Lt. Col. Michael Onines, 940th CES commander. He added, “It’s a capability that combatant commanders have been asking for more and more.” (Beale report by Dana Lineback)
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.