Airmen of the 557th Expeditionary RED HORSE Squadron are finishing construction of “All American Square” at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. It is a facility designed to temporarily house the US military personnel pouring into the base as they redeploy out of Iraq during the US troop withdrawal from the Mideast nation by the end of 2011. Balad is serving as a major hub for removing the troops and their gear. “All American Square will give them a place to stay as they come and go and it is co-located with the passenger terminal, so this is going to be a great benefit,” said Capt. Ben Knost, 557th ERHS site officer in charge. Construction began in January and is scheduled to conclude in mid-May. (Balad report by A1C Allison M. Boehm)
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.