With the addition of active duty airmen to help operate and maintain Air Force Reserve Command C-130s and KC-135s in California, Colorado, and Mississippi (see above Sky’s the Limit), some Reservists in those units could switch to take on some of the service’s new missions. That was the word from AFRC boss Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner last week. In talking with reporters Feb. 19 at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Stenner said that once the optimum synergy is found between these active duty and Reserve airmen, AFRC may be able to withdraw some of the Reservists from the air mobility mission and apply them to new roles like cyber operations.
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.