The 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, the unit that provided personnel recovery in Iraq from the beginning of combat operations there in 2003, began its return to the United States from its current operating location in Kuwait. “It is the end of 64th ERQS deployments” to the Middle East, said Col. Steven Gregg, commander of the 347th Rescue Group at Moody AFB, Ga., in a July 23 release. “Since every active duty HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue squadron has served in the 64th ERQS, I feel that this is significant,” he added. With the US military’s withdrawal from Iraq last year, the unit restaged from JB Balad, Iraq, to Ali Al Salem Air Base in central Kuwait to stand on alert. “We look forward to meeting the challenges of the future with the same professionalism as we did in Iraq and Kuwait,” affirmed Gregg. The first wave of 64th ERQS airmen returned to Moody on July 17. (Moody report by A1C Jarrod Grammel)
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.
