Sometime this fall, according to Kenneth Krieg, DOD’s point man on acquisition, the Pentagon may issue a request for information from contractors interested in providing a tanker replacement for USAF’s elderly KC-135s. In responding to questions after a speech last week at the ComDef 2005 Conference in Washington, Krieg said the analysis of alternatives is still under review, but once that is done, out will come the RFI. Just the week before, USAF retracted an RFI on tankers;that it;admitted was “premature.” (DR, 09/02/05) Likely contractors are not waiting for the starter pistol.
A new Navy missile could fill a long-range air-to-air need for the U.S. Air Force’s fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation fighters. The Navy’s portfolio acquisition executive for munitions posted information on the AIM-424 Long Range Air-to-Air Missile online on Aug. 22, the same day it unveiled the project at the service’s…