The Government Accountability Office has ruled in favor of the Lockheed Martin-Agusta Westland US101 team and Sikorsky protests over the Air Force’s award of the combat search and rescue aircraft replacement program contract to Boeing. The decisions, which are non-binding but certainly cast some doubt on the program, came late Monday. Both Lockheed and Sikorsky issued statements, each saying that they are certain their aircraft will win out in the end. The CSAR-X program potentially is worth $15 billion through the full production of 141 aircraft. The selection of the HH-47 surprised many defense analysts, who thought the US101 had the advantage since the Marine Corps chose it as the new Presidential transport. Service leaders said that they chose the Boeing HH-47 for best value and fast delivery—several months earlier than either competitor. The Air Force’s expected 2012 initial operational capability now may be in jeopardy.
The Space Force must invest in high-level training based on the lessons learned from an unprecedented level of electronic warfare (EW) used by both Russia and Ukraine in the conflict there, one of the service’s top EW leaders said on April 24. “What we have seen in the Ukraine-Russia conflict…