A new report from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that a new strain of adenovirus serotype resulted in the death of one basic trainee at Lackland AFB, Tex., and sickened another 106 from February through June. (The airman, who recovered enough to graduate basic training, then succumbed again to the illness was Amn. Paige Villers of Ohio, reports the Akron Beacon Journal.) The CDC confirmed a total of 140 cases of AD14 throughout Texas, Oregon, and Washington from March through June. In all, nine patients died. The report notes that, from March through September, three military bases in Texas reported 220 cases of AD14. Airmen from Lackland had reported to those bases, but so far health officials do not know whether the disease spread from Lackland.
Boeing’s receipt of the 10th lot contract award for the KC-46 Pegasus this week leaves just three lots left to complete the Air Force’s buy of the tanker, although a further buy of 75 additional aircraft as a “bridge” to the Next-Generation Aerial-refueling System (NGAS) seems increasingly likely.