Regarding the CSAR-X award protests, the Government Accountability Office told the Daily Report Monday that it expects to receive a report from the Air Force in December and believes the GAO review will run right up to the established due date of late February. GAO still is carrying the Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin-Agusta Westland protests as separate cases—that could change. Meanwhile, an Air Force spokesman said the service would have no comment on the combat search and rescue aircraft award during the GAO review.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.