Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh has assigned Maj. Gen. Martin Whelan to serve as director of space operations on the Air Staff, announced the Pentagon on Monday. Whelan currently serves as director of requirements for Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB, Colo. Welsh also assigned Maj. Gen. Terrence Feehan to replace Whelan at AFSPC. Feehan has been vice commander of the Space and Missiles Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., since August 2012. In another move, Welsh tapped Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson to be the Air Force’s next program executive officer for tankers at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Richardson would replace Maj. Gen. John Thompson, whom President Obama nominated for a third star and for assignment as the commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patt. Richardson has been serving as director of logistics and sustainment for Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patt.
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.