The Air Force on
Monday announced that it is working on the supplemental environmental impact statement that will address the beddown of 59 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters at Eglin AFB, Fla. It will also consider within this SEIS “the consequences and potential mitigations” arising from increasing that number by up to another 48 aircraft, but it will not use the SEIS as a decision tool for placing those additional aircraft at Eglin. That will come later, if at all. USAF believes that establishing 59 JSFs at Eglin will satisfy requirements levied by BRAC 2005 to use Eglin as a joint/international schoolhouse. Even with only 59 aircraft, the plan still faces some stiff local resistance. 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.