A search and rescue effort was still under way Wednesday in the Nevada desert for the pilot of an F-16C that crashed during a training mission from Nellis AFB, Nev., on the previous day. The search was taking place on federal land roughly 120 miles north of Las Vegas, reported Las Vegas’ Fox News 5. Brig. Gen. T.J. O’Shaughnessy, commander of Nellis’ 57th Wing, said search and rescue teams were trying to spot the parachute and pilot in the vast crash area. Several helicopters were involved in the search. The F-16 went down at around 5:30 p.m. Las Vegas time Tuesday in an area some 20 miles west of the town of Caliente. The F-16 was not carrying live weapons, reported Las Vegas’ Channel 6 News. (Nellis release) (See also Las Vegas Review-Journal report and Las Vegas’ KLAS-TV 8 report.) (Our initial coverage)
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.