The US Coast Guard recovered the body of Air National Guard F-15 pilot whose fighter crashed June 26 off the coast of Oregon the evening of the crash, but officials delayed releasing the news until June 27. Air Guard officials subsequently identified the pilot as Maj. Gregory D. Young, 34, of St. Helens, Ore., who was a member of the Oregon ANG’s 142nd Fighter Wing, based at Portland. At the time of the accident, he was flying a routine training mission in an exercise with other ANG pilots and Marine Corps Reserve F/A-18s from Texas. The Air Force is investigating the accident.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.