Game On (Updated)

Hawker Beechcraft is taking a public swing at the Air Force, saying that it is "profoundly disappointed" that the service has allowed "antiquated pilot accommodation standards" to plague a revised request for proposals that would supply 20 aircraft to Afghanistan.

In a May 8 statement, the company strikes out at the new RFP, which was issued on May 4. The Air Force reissued the RFP for the $355 million Light Air Support (LAS) contract after Hawker Beechcraft filed a lawsuit against the Air Force with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in late December. Hawker filed the lawsuit after the service eliminated it from the competition for the contract in November. The service initially awarded the contract to the team of Sierra Nevada Corp. and Brazilian company Embraer but promptly revoked it after the lawsuit was launched, citing issues with its source-selection process.

Hawker Beechcraft's concern over the ejection-seat standards has cropped up within the past month. Company Chairman Bill Boisture discussed the issue of substandard ejection seats with Inside the Air Force in mid-April, saying the ejection-seat safety requirements for the 20 aircraft were lower than what they have been for "every other fixed-wing solicitation the Air Force has put out."

"We are profoundly disappointed to see in the amended RFP that the [Air Force] continues to permit antiquated pilot accommodation standards for ejection seat equipped aircraft which can place both [the Air Force] and partner nation pilots at unnecessary and higher risk," today's statement reads. "Those standards were developed by the [Air Force] to protect their own male and female pilot population, and every aircraft acquired by the [Air Force] should meet those modern safety standards."

In early April, House Armed Services Committee member Tim Griffin (R-AR) sent a letter to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley seeking to confirm that the Air Force had plans "to meet modern anthropometric accommodation requirements for LAS ejection seats."

UPDATE (1:50 p.m.): Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Cassidy declined to comment.

UPDATE (3:45 p.m.): Here's the text of Rep. Griffin's just-released statement:

After a careless selection process, the Obama Administration was forced to reverse its award decision, yet it continues to allow a pilot ejection seat requirement that is below DOD's own standard.  I believe that we should provide the very best light attack platform, including the same ejection seat safety standards we expect in our other front line Air Force aircraft.