Boeing announced Tuesday that is has formed a new airlift and tankers division within its military aircraft business unit in St. Louis. This division will lead the company’s fixed-wing mobility programs, in particular the C-17 transport, and its US and international tanker programs. “Aligning large, fixed-wing aircraft capabilities under one leadership team will intensify our focus on the warfighter’s needs and introduce efficiencies that will result in cost savings for taxpayers,” said Chris Chadwick, Boeing Military Aircraft president. Prior to this the company had its C-17 and international tanker programs grouped in the global mobility systems division. Its work to capture the US Air Force’s KC-X tanker contract was kept separate. Now the USAF tanker program joins the rest and global mobility systems is now called airlift and tankers. Jean Chamberlin leads the new division and will also spearhead Boeing efforts to capture KC-X.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.