Members of Air Force Reserve Command’s 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, held a farewell ceremony for the unit’s C-5A transports. The wing is ending its C-5 mission and shedding its 10 C-5As in order to operate nine C-17s. The Oct. 14 ceremony was the last opportunity for Wright-Patt’s airmen and community leaders to see the massive C-5s. The wing conducted its final C-5A sortie on Sept. 28. Wing officials expect the unit to receive its full complement of C-17s by the end of Fiscal 2012. (Wright-Patterson photo caption by SrA. Mikhail Berlin)
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.