Missileers of the 90th Missile Wing at F. E. Warren AFB, Wyo., last week electronically simulated the launch of a Minuteman III ICBM, assuring launch facility readiness. Unlike Minuteman launches from the test facility at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Simulated Electronic Launch-Minuteman (SELM) tests an operational launch facility’s response to launch control commands. “SELMs provide the most complete test of ICBMs from day-to-day operation to issuance of first stage ignition signal,” said Lt. Col. Anita Feugate Opperman, 320th Missile Squadron commander. Giant Pace 11-1M, held Aug. 16-18, evaluated launch sequences initiated by both by a ground-based control center and an airborne launch control center. Air Force Global Strike Command conducts SELMs twice a year. Warren also test-opened LF Hotel-08’s silo-door, blasting back the several-ton cover, an event conducted only once every two years. (Warren report by SSgt. Mike Tryon)
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.