Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster relinquished 
command of Air Force Special Operations Command to Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel last week during a ceremony at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, presided over the ceremony; Adm. Eric Olson, US Special Operations Command boss, also participated. “Each of you makes a difference, every job matters,” Wurster told AFSOC’s airmen. “Despite the relatively small number of personnel in AFSOC, we fight above our weight and produce lasting and strategic effects in our wake.” Wurster is retiring after 38 years of service, effective Aug. 1. He led the command since November 2007; it has roughly 16,000 active duty, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and civilian personnel. Fiel comes to AFSOC from US Special Operations Command, where he was vice commander. “AFSOC will continue to change,” said Fiel. “We will continue to focus on who we are and what it means to be the specialized air arm of the SOF team.” (Hurlburt report by Capt. Kristen Duncan and Hurlburt report by Ashley M. Wright)
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.