Government and industry employees converged in Dayton, Ohio, this week to discuss the ins and outs of the pending KC-X tanker competition. It was also an opportunity, says Teresa Rendon of the small business office at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, for small businesses to find out how they might engage in the tanker replacement program. Officials with the 653rd Aeronautical Systems Squadron at Wright-Patt expect the Air Force to purchase 179 replacement aircraft over a 15-year period—beginning in 2010—at a cost of around $20 billion.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…