Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner Jr., Air Force Reserve chief, said Sept. 15 that the next major budget that the Air Force will put together—its proposal for Fiscal 2012—will provide an important opportunity for the service to establish “the way ahead” to address its stressed career fields and lower the strain on its airmen in those missions. Since the predictability and sustainability of Reserve deployments is so essential for Air Force Reserve Command to maintain itself as a viable strategic reserve that supports operational forces worldwide, lessening these burdens is a critical issue, he told attendees at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. Indeed, every time the rate of deployments in a stressed career field grows, (e.g., from a 1:5 deployed-to-dwell time to 1:4), the Air Force loses 10 percent of its Reserve airmen in that field, said Stenner. Continue
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.