USAF’s
F-35 beddown decisions may affect where F-22s end up, according to the service’s installation czar. When the service unveiled it list of 11 candidate locations to host the F-35 next decade, Holloman AFB, N.M., was included as a potential training site. “Holloman scored very high on the training list,” Kathleen Ferguson, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, told reporters Nov. 2. However, she noted, the capacity does not exist “to support both the F-22 and the F-35” at Holloman, which is already in the throes of establishing two combat-ready F-22 squadrons. Ferguson said USAF may consider “the potential to relocate the F-22” as part of the next phase of F-35 beddown process. That news prompted Virginia lawmakers last week to ask USAF for more information on F-22 basing decisions, since they would like to get more Raptors at Langley Air Force Base. Continue
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.