Some 15 Air Force civil engineers comprise a public works team supporting Army units at three different locations in Iraq. They technically are part of Det. 16, 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron at Balad AB, Iraq. Three of these airmen serve as the Power and Oil Infrastructure Team, currently working out of Kirkuk, where they assist Iraqis who run refineries and power plants and oversee some $32 million in construction projects in an area that is responsible for approximately 20 percent of Iraq’s oil production.
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…