The US military has extended an official invitation to the Chinese military to come to Washington, D.C., early next year to discuss sharing logistical resources, including fuel, during joint counterpiracy, humanitarian-assistance, and disaster-response operations, according to a Pentagon release. So far, the Chinese appear open to the idea of discussions, which could lead to a first-ever logistics cooperation agreement between the two nations, states the Oct. 12 release. “This is the first time, at least from a logistics standpoint, that we have reached out and they have been very receptive to those ideas,” said Brig. Gen. Mark McLeod, PACOM’s logistics chief. He characterized this as a potentially “groundbreaking” development in US-China military-to-military relations, which have been slowly on the mend after strains in recent years. If adopted, the arrangement would enable the United States and China to share fuel, food, supplies, and even vessel parts, said McLeod. (AFPS report by Donna Miles)
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.