Does Stevens See an End to Galena?: Sen. Ted Stevens has uncharacteristically thrown in the towel on a state military base matter. The powerful Alaska Republican said in a Thursday press conference that he believes the BRAC panel will vote to close the USAF operation at Galena AS, Alaska. It was added to the Pentagon list by the commission. Stevens bluntly told reporters that he hopes a vote to close Galena would move Eielson Air Force Base off the endangered list. The Galena site is a small airstrip used by F-15s from Elmendorf Air Force Base for emergencies and touch-and-go training.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…