President Obama announced on Thursday that he has “approved the use of US military aircraft” to help Egyptians seeking to flee the unrest in Libya return home. These Egyptians have fled to Libya’s western border with Tunisia. An Air Force spokesman told the Daily Report that USAF assets will participate in the evacuation flights, but it was too early to say what aircraft would be involved and the service had not yet received a formal tasking. Obama also said he has authorized US Agency for International Development officials to charter civil aircraft “to help people from other countries find their way home.” Further, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered US Africa Command to take the lead in planning any defense involvement in response to the situation in Libya. (AFPS report by Karen Parrish) (See also White House blog entry)
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.