Only two weeks after the Air Force issued the initial request for proposals for its CSAR-X combat search and rescue aircraft program, one of the strongest potential competitors—the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor—is out. The reason? The aircraft is overqualified. Boeing has decided the V-22’s speed and range take it beyond the CSAR-X requirements. The Boeing-Bell team still plans to compete a variant of the H-47 helicopter. (DR, 10/18/05)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
