Gen. Michael Moseley, USAF Chief of Staff, believes there ultimately could be two winners in the service’s tanker replacement program. It’s likely the first batch of 179 aircraft would go to one competitor—either Boeing’s smaller KC-767 or the Northrop Grumman-EADS team’s larger KC-30, but Moseley told reporters during a Foreign Press Center briefing Feb. 21 that “down the road” USAF could go “to a mixed fleet” of both smaller and larger tankers. There is precedence since the service currently operates a two-sized tanker fleet, with the KC-135 and KC-10. The Air Force plans to hold subsequent competitions as it works to replace its entire current tanker fleet. Reuters news service quotes Moseley, “So there will be a continual set of opportunities for both companies to compete.”
Less than a day after arriving in the Middle East, F-15E Strike Eagles from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. defended Israel from an Iranian attack in April 2024. DUDE flight, four F-15Es from the 335th Fighter Squadron, downed two dozen Iranian drones in roughly 45 minutes.