The Air Force will release a request for proposals for the much-coveted $35 billion KC-X next-generation tanker competition no earlier than Feb. 23, according to a Pentagon notice.
Monday, October 14, 2024
Monday, October 14, 2024
The Air Force will release a request for proposals for the much-coveted $35 billion KC-X next-generation tanker competition no earlier than Feb. 23, according to a Pentagon notice.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this morning that the Air Force might not field its Next-Generation Bomber until the 2020s.
The Air Force plans to spend more than $12 billion on the KC-X next-generation tanker program over the next five years, according to service budget officials.
The Air Force plans to cancel two major satellite programs and invest heavily in manned and unmanned aircraft in its fiscal year 2011 budget proposal, according to internal Pentagon budget document.
A draft version of the Pentagon's much-anticipated 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review does not address the future of the Air Force's Next-Generation Bomber program, deferring a decision on the effort to a new study chartered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, according to documents obtained by InsideDefense.com.
The chief of naval operations today downplayed an internal service report that found the Pentagon would need about $100 billion more than expected to operate the multiservice F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over its lifespan.
The first production-grade F-35 Joint Strike Fighters will cost more than anticipated due to the Pentagon's plans to increase the testing and development phase of the multiservice aircraft, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz.
ABOARD AN AIR FORCE OC-135 AIRCRAFT -- The Air Force yesterday collected thousands of images of Haiti using an OC-135 reconnaissance aircraft in an attempt to survey the damage from a devastating earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation last week.
The top executive overseeing Boeing's vast defense portfolio said today that his company is in good shape to place a bid in the Air Force's multibillion-dollar KC-X tanker competition.
EADS North America CEO Sean O'Keefe said his company fully backs Northrop Grumman's decision not to participate in the Air Force's next-generation tanker program unless changes are made to the draft request for proposals.
U.S. Transportation Command is studying how to optimize air and land-based supply routes into Afghanistan in advance of the deployment of 30,000 additional ground troops to the region, according to the Air Force general overseeing the effort.
The Air Force wants to rapidly field a slew of "podded" intelligence sensors that will dramatically increase the amount of live, full-motion video feeds remotely piloted aircraft can provide to analysts and troops on the ground, according to a senior service official.
Northrop Grumman's threat to drop out of the Air Force's next-generation tanker competition is a “blow to the program,” House Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-PA) told reporters this afternoon during a briefing on Capitol Hill.
Northrop Grumman today threatened to withdraw from the Air Force's multibillion-dollar, next-generation tanker competition unless the Pentagon makes significant changes to the draft request for proposals.
The Pentagon will consider making changes to the next-generation tanker draft request for proposals even though the Air Force knows what it wants and needs in new aerial refueling aircraft, the Defense Department's top weapons buyer said today.
A panel of top Pentagon leaders today rejected the Air Force's proposal to kill a multibillion-dollar initiative to replace the cockpits in hundreds of C-130 transport aircraft, Inside the Air Force has learned.
U.S. Special Operations Command today announced it is interested in ideas on an airborne system that can provide close air support to troops in contact, according to a government notice.
The U.S. Court of Appeals today sided with the Air Force, rejecting a claim by Alabama Aircraft Industries that the service unfairly awarded a $1 billion-plus KC-135 maintenance contract to defense giant Boeing back in 2007.
Northrop Grumman said it would consider legal action against the Pentagon should it not disclose the pricing data of arch rival Boeing from the last round of the Air Force's multibillion-dollar tanker competition.
Alabama lawmakers supporting the Northrop Grumman-EADS tanker team today called the draft request for proposals for the Air Force's next-generation aerial refueler "tilted toward Boeing" and severely flawed.