KC-10 Final Sortie, 26 September 2024 Source: USAF photo
And in 2024, the KC-10 SPO won nominations at the Program Executive Officer , three-star, four-star and Secretary of the Air Force level to earn the honor of competing as an Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment finalist for the 2024 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award. In conclusion, despite numerous and wide-ranging unexpected circumstances, the KC-10 SPO overcame every single challenge, resulting in three KC-10s successfully input for permanent display at U.S Museums, where the Extender will forever educate future generations on its long and storied history. And finally, on 26 September 2024, the KC-10 SPO successfully completed the last acquisition phase with the retirement of the 59th KC-10 Extender aircraft, and once again, ahead of the president’s budget deadline. Beating its final programmatic objective, the KC-10 Extender, aka “Gucci,” can rest knowing it accomplished and exceeded every single expectation in the defense of this Nation.
HASSELL is the Chief of Logistics for 376 KC-135 and 59 KC-10 aircraft as part of the Air Force Life Cycle Manage- ment Center’s Legacy Tanker Division at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. His duties include managing all supply as- pects of the $3.1 billion KC-10 Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) contract including the Supply, flying hour pro- gram, engineering, and maintenance support at 10 locations conducting global operations. The author can be contacted at billy.hassell.1@us.af.mil . The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the Department of Defense. Reproduction or reposting of articles from Defense Acquisition magazine should credit the author and the magazine.
DEFENSE ACQUISITION | May-June 2025
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