
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing [BA] a nearly $1.7 billion contract for 12 KC-46 tankers in Lot Six of the production run of the aircraft, the Pentagon said on Jan. 12. Acting as cell towers to relay data between the cloud and front-line forces in future conflicts, refueling tankers are to play a significant role in the service’s fielding of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). The Air Force fleet of tankers consists of more than 400 aging…