The Air Force has dispatched elements of the 552nd Air Control Wing at Tinker AFB, Okla., to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, for the first time in four years. On the unit’s last deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom, reports journalist SSgt. Stacy Fowler, its E-3 AWACs amassed 10,000 flying hours from September 2001 through October 2002. When the E-3 Sentry force left SWA in 2003, it had sustained a 13-year continuous presence, flying for Northern and Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. The Sentry force also just celebrated its 30th anniversary at Tinker. (Read more in journalist Polly Orcutt’s report.)
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.
