California 
Air National Guard rescuers from Moffett Federal Airfield last week evacuated and treated a merchant sailor who had suffered head trauma aboard a cargo ship 300 miles off the Mexican coast. “This is the third successful long-range, over-water mission we have executed within the past nine months,” said 129th Rescue Wing Commander Col. Steven Butow. One of the wing’s HH-60 helicopters, accompanied by an MC-130P special-mission aircraft, departed Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and reached the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel on Nov. 29, according to Moffett’s release. Pararescuemen winched down to the deck of the cargo ship and recovered the sailor, treating him on the two-hour return flight to Cabo San Lucas. There, the airmen loaded the patient on the MC-130P for transfer to San Diego for further medical treatment. “This was a complex rescue mission, but our airmen were up to the task,” said Butow. (Moffet report by Capt. Donnie LeBlanc)
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.