The Florida Air National Guardsmen who manned the Southeast Air Defense Sector at Tyndall AFB, Fla., have closed the door on 37 years of history and opened a new one as an Air Operations Center in-the-making. A Nov. 21 news release says a ceremonial switchover took place Friday, but the SEADS airmen have been working toward the change in mission for about four years. According to Col. David Kriner, commander of SEADS and now the 601st AOC, there’s more training and integration to be done. The new AOC will support the Continental US NORAD region, providing air tasking orders and strategy-to-task functions, said Kriner. Picking up SEADS old mission—air defense of the southeastern US—has been split between the Northeast Air Defense Sector and Western Air Defense Sector.
Boeing received a $2.47 billion Air Force contract Nov. 25 for 15 more KC-46s, bringing to 183 the number of Pegasus tankers on contract to all customers, foreign and domestic. The new contract—for Lot 12 of the initially planned KC-46 buy—is to be completed by 2029.
