The Air Force aircraft fleet is getting old, a position repeated time and again by top USAF leaders. Yesterday at a Capitol Hill seminar, the service’s top acquisition official, Sue Payton, repeated the refrain, adding a slightly new twist. She said, the tankers “should be flying around with an AARP card,” and added that by the time the last tankers are retired, “there will be a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ sign on the engine.” Payton emphasized the need to push modernization across the service’s weapon systems, but she also said acquisition officials were well aware that they must beware of technology pitfalls and abide by what Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley has termed the “A model approach.” Payton asserted that it is crucial for the service to avoid situations “where we cannot start a program because a technology isn’t mature.”
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.