Boeing will provide the Air Force’s new combat search and rescue aircraft, announced Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne late Thursday. Boeing’s entrant in the CSAR-X competition is a variation of its combat-proven CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The Air Force plans to purchase 141 HH-47 aircraft to replace its fleet of HH-60 Pave Hawks. Air Combat Command, the CSAR mission owner, expects to achieve initial operational capability with its first 10 HH-47s by the end of 2012.
B-52 Stratofortress bombers marked a new first in Operation Epic Fury when some of the BUFFs flew over Iran carrying JDAM-guided gravity bombs, according to people familiar with the matter. The development signals a weakening of Iranian air defenses and a new use for the venerable bomber in the nearly…