L-3 Communications announced Sept. 13 that it had delivered the final Project Liberty MC-12W to the Air Force, completing the Liberty Project Aircraft contract issued as an urgent operational requirement. The actual delivery took place Aug. 31 when the aircraft was flown from the L-3 Mission Integration facility in Greenville, Tex., to the Air National Guard training facility at Key Field, Miss. USAF acquired the first of 37 MC-12 intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft in March 2009. The aircraft have been deployed to Southwest Asia since June 2009, first in Iraq and then in Afghanistan. “The Air Force and L-3 completed an amazing feat,” said Mark Von Schwarz, president of L-3 Mission Integration. His division delivered all 37 ISR-equipped aircraft in less than 24 months, with each one on or before contract due date, stated the company release.
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.