Tactical Air Control Party airmen juggled 33 allied aircraft from four different NATO countries, simulating coalition close air support operations in Afghanistan at Serpentex 2012 on the isle of Corsica. “Participants are going to Afghanistan all the time,” said Capt. Michael Hogan of the 4th Air Support Operations Group at Ramstein AB, Germany. “The training is important because it gives our multinational counterparts the training needed for deployments in a life-like, controlled environment,” he added. During the two-week exercise, the TACPs worked side-by-side with allied controllers. Hosted by France at Ventiseri-Solenzara Air Base, the mountainous island setting “allows us to train in all geographic terrains, which has been extremely productive,” explained Hogan. More than 550 military personnel from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States participated in the exercise, which ran from March 26 to April 6. (Solenzara report by A1C Caitlin O’Neil-KcKeown)
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.