A $76,000 
restoration of several aircraft at the Peterson Air and Space Museum on the grounds of Peterson AFB, Colorado, is expected to be complete by the start of the new year. NORAD and US Northern Command funded the project, which has paid special attention to a static display of an F-101 Voodoo all-weather interceptor. Workers are repainting it in the colors and markings of the 13th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, restoring it to “its glory days as a first-line, tip-of-the-spear protector of America nearly 50 years ago,” according to Peterson officials. “This aircraft needed work for a very long time,” said Jeff Nash, museum deputy director. Also getting facelifts are an EC-121 Warning Star, F-4 Phantom, F-86 Sabre, F-94 Starfire, F-106 Delta Dart, a P-40 Warhawk, and T-33 Shooting Star. Officials also did a complete makeover on a MIM-3 Nike Ajax missile. (Peterson report by Monica Mendoza)
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.