On the tactical level, the US, British, and French air forces integrate very well, but intelligence sharing, and command and control must be improved to ensure success in more demanding future air campaigns, said senior representatives from each air arm. “In Libya we got away with it, we made do,” said Royal Air Force Air Marshal A.D. Puller during the Sept. 19 panel on allied cooperation at AFA’s Air and Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. “Two of the greatest [difficulties] to any coalition in a truly integrated manner are integrated command and control, and the sharing of information,” added Gen. Gilles Lemoine, head of the French air force’s strategic studies center. Since the beginning of coalition operations in Afghanistan in 2003, “we have seen an explosion in the number of aircraft that can provide intel, surveillance, and reconnaissance,” highlighted Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, the Air Force’s assistant vice chief of staff. As a result, “we’re going to have to work our way through each of the capabilities . . . and develop systems that allow for machine-to-machine transfer of data so that data are developed and processed” quickly enough to keep pace, he added.
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.