JEFX 08-3, the third leg of the Air Force-led biennial Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2008, began April 14 and will run through April 25. The Global Cyberspace Integration Center at Langley AFB, Va., leads the experiment, which is designed to evaluate technology to fill gaps in warfighting capability. About 720 participants, at 14 locations, from across the US military services, combatant commands, non-defense governmental agencies, and coalition nations will explore eight initiatives that touch upon distributed theater operations, globally linked air and space operation centers, cyberspace, and unit-level command and control. Thirty-three aircraft will take part in a live-fly scenario at Nellis AFB, Nev. As part of this, there will be a demonstration of downloading data from an F-22 fighter to fourth-generation fighters and combined air and space operations centers. (Langley report by Capt. Larry van der Oord)
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.
