The San Antonio City Council has approved a grant of $685,000 to study the growth anticipated for Lackland Air Force Base, much of it due to BRAC 2005 decisions but also because the Air Force now wants to install its new cyber-centric 24 Air Force at the Texas base. BRAC 2005 calls for consolidation of personnel from various agencies at Lackland by August 2010, which has spurred the base to begin a $75 million renovation of its 460,000-square foot Building 171 and other projects, such as the new Inter-American Air Forces training complex. “It’s important to get ahead of issues before we have an impact,” said James Henderson, Office of Military Affairs deputy director for San Antonio, according to a Lackland release. He added: “What happens at Lackland and Port San Antonio [the former Kelly Air Force Base] does not stay within just those confines; it impacts the whole community. The study will give us a nice roadmap to see the big picture and figure things out.” Lackland officials estimate that the addition of the new 24th AF will add 2,000 personnel, bringing the base’s daily population to more than 50,000. Lackland and Randolph Air Force Base and Ft. Sam Houston are also working out details on how they will share installation support in a joint base arrangement. (Lackland report by Mike Joseph)
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.