Air 
Force Reserve Command’s 482nd Fighter Wing introduced a development and training flight to prepare new accessions at Homestead ARB, Fla., for basic training. “Our job is to make sure these airmen are fully prepared to continue or begin their training so they can go on to be productive, fit-to-fight airmen,” said SrA. Cynthia Pichardo, DTF assistant program manager, in a Homestead release. The Air Force began testing the DTF concept at a group of trial bases last year, and expanded the program earlier this year at AFRC units across the country. Formal, unified standards for the program have not been established, but DTF curriculum generally includes pre-training in customs and courtesy, dress and appearance, physical fitness, and Air Force structure and history, states the release. Homestead’s first class of 24 prospective airmen started DTF at the wing’s training assembly on Aug. 11. (Homestead report by SrA. Jaimi Upthegrove)
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.