Air Mobility Command has named Maj. Gen. James A. Hawkins to command 18th Air Force, Scott AFB, Ill. Currently Hawkins is director of operations at AMC headquarters. He is a 1973 West Point graduate and a bomber pilot whom, in 1994, flew as instructor pilot on a 47-hour, around-the-world, non-stop B-52 flight. He has commanded the 319th Air Refueling Wing, 89th Airlift Wing, and the Tanker Airlift Control Center.
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.