The Air Force awarded Boeing a $326 million contract for 15,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition tailkits, according to a March 31 release. Work on the Lot 20 tailkits will be done at Boeing’s St. Louis, Mo., facility and is expected to be finished by March 29, 2018. The order also includes technical services task management, non-warranty support induction and evaluation, and system field support. The Air Force is working to rebuild its munitions stockpile to offset heavy use of preferred munitions, such as JDAMs and Hellfire missiles, against ISIS leaders and facilities in Iraq and Syria. The service’s Fiscal 2017 budget looks to fund 30,600 JDAMs and more than 1,500 Hellfire missiles, the preferred weapon on remotely piloted aircraft. (See also: Munitions Dominate Procurement).
President Donald Trump’s nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff touted his highly unusual background for the job as an asset and reaffirmed his commitment to stay apolitical during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 1.