Until Operation Unified Protector shuts down on Oct. 31, NATO will continue to run missions over Libya, principally intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance flights and enforcement of the no-fly zone and arms embargo, according to NATO’s air commander, Lt. Gen. Ralph Jodice. He told the Daily Report in an interview Monday that NATO aircraft performed their last “kinetic” mission in Libya on Oct. 20, but the alliance continues to be “prepared to protect civilians if they are so threatened.” Jodice said he’s been gratified that NATO partners and four other coalition members have contributed “everything they could” in manpower and hardware to the operation. It’s been “a big success,” he said. Despite complaints of former Defense Secretary Robert Gates that NATO partners were short of munitions, Jodice said weapons availability was never a problem. “I never once had to cancel or postpone a sortie because I didn’t have the right munitions,” he said.
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.