The Air Force’s F-15 program office at Robins AFB, Ga., is expanding thanks to the $29.4 billion foreign military sale to Saudi Arabia agreed to last year. To deliver the 84 new-built F-15SAs and refurbish the kingdom’s existing 70 F-15s, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center will add 80 technicians and engineers by year’s end, according to Robins officials. The Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 fleet modernization program “solidifies Robins’ role as a leader in foreign military sales throughout the Department of Defense,” said Col. Robert Stambaugh, program manager at WRALC. “We will be buying the electronic warfare systems for the conversion of the airplanes, . . . refurbishment kits for the LANTIRN navigation pods, and additional Sniper targeting pods,” explained Stambaugh. Modification, logistics, and training conducted through Robins will account for roughly $10 billion of the total sale. Deliveries of the first new-built F-15s are slated to begin in 2015. (Robins report by Jenny Gordon)
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.