The RQ-4 Glo
bal Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle operators and friends at Beale AFB, Calif., have flown an overnight, 21-hour, local RQ-4 mission, reports A1C Robert Biermann. This past summer Beale airmen completed their first operational Global Hawk mission from the California base. And, just last week the Beale team flew an RQ-4 to aid those battling the California wildfires. The long-duration local flight enabled the Beale team to “validate the performance” of new software that now is available for operational use, said Lt. Col. David Anderson, commander of the 53rd Test and Evaluation Group’s Det. 2 at Beale.
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.
