The White House has selected four Air Force intelligence senior executives for Presidential Rank Awards, which focus on leadership and results. The recipients are: William Maikisch, Space and Missile Systems Center; John Kretzer, Air Force Information Warfare Center; Gary Harvey, Air Combat Command; and Gary O’Connell, National Air and Space Intelligence Center. In another award presentation, two Pacific Air Forces maintainers, CMSgt. Robert Norcross II and MSgt. Jeffrey Smoots, represented the command’s more than 10,000 maintenance personnel in accepting the Gen. Wilbur L. Creech Maintenance Excellence award Jan. 16 at the Pentagon. The Air Force selected PACAF as the major command that had the most improved performance in aircraft maintenance and logistics readiness during the last fiscal year.
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.