Boeing announced Wednesday that it has connected the Air Force’s F-15E mission training centers at Seymour Johnson AFB, N.C., and RAF Lakenheath, Britain, to the service’s distributed mission operations network. These two sites join the F-15E MTC at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, which Boeing tied into the DMON in June. F-15E pilots at these three bases are now able to train virtually at home with other military pilots connected to the network at their own bases around the globe. “Having all three MTCs on the network is a significant achievement,” said Mark McGraw, Boeing vice president for training systems and services. He noted that the MTCs allow for realistic training without the financial or environmental costs or safety risks of live-fly training exercises.
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.