The US military has vacated Forward Operating Location Manta at Eloy Alfaro AFB, Ecuador, and formally returned the installation to the control of the Ecuadoran military. According to press reports, the handover occurred on Sept. 18. The end of the US presence there marked the expiration of a 10-year lease agreement between the US and Ecuador that the latter chose not to renew. The US used FOL Manta as a hub for unarmed counternarcotics surveillance missions in the eastern Pacific. To compensate for its loss, the US reached an agreement with Colombia in August under which the US gains access rights to seven Colombian military bases, from which to mount counternarcotics and counterterrorist activities in the region. (See Associated Press’ Sept. 18 report and AFNS’s Sept. 23 report at Media-Newswire.com.)
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.