Although Air Force Global Strike Command reached full operational capability in September, the organization is “by no means mission-complete,” said Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, AFGSC commander. As part of the command’s ongoing maturation, Klotz told attendees at AFA’s Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles that he is focusing on three activities: developing human capital, formulating guidance, and securing appropriate resources for the command’s conventional and nuclear missions. Guidance is particularly important, Klotz noted, as AFGSC is assuming missions assigned to numbered air forces, wings, groups, and squadrons that were formerly under Air Combat Command and Air Force Space Command. Adapting guidance and doctrine from those two organizations was not just a “cut and paste” process, he said. Since AFGSC’s inception, command officials have issued and updated more than 200 documents on mission guidance, with more on the way. AFGSC’s inspector general office, which has grown at a brisk pace, is holding the command’s airmen to rigorous standards via nuclear operational readiness and nuclear surety inspections, said Klotz during his Nov. 19 address.
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.