The Washington Air National Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing recently returned from a 2.5 week deployment to Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan. While deployed, the three crews of the 141st fueled 132 coalition aircraft with 1.6 million pounds of fuel, reports Air Force journalist MSgt. Mitch Gettle. One of the 141st crews now holds the record for longest tanker sortie ever flown out of Manas at 13.7 hours. The 141st ARW will become the first Guard associate wing in Air Mobility Command—a BRAC 2005 action—when it forms up to share aircraft with its neighbor at Fairchild AFB, Wash., the active-duty 92nd ARW.
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.