The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the Air Force has raised the number of tanker aircraft it expects to buy initially as replacements for its elderly KC-135s from 100 to 189. The newspaper’s source is Ralph Crosby, chairman and chief executive of EADS North America, who said the number 189 surfaced about a week ago when Air Force officials briefed the Northrop-EADS team, which is offering the KC-30, on the program.
The Pentagon is significantly bolstering airpower near Venezuela, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to Latin America, it said in an Oct. 24 statement. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers and other U.S. assets flew near the Venezuelan coast on Oct. 23.
