Members of the House Appropriations defense panel want the Air Force to explain—in detail—just what selection criteria it used in the combat search and rescue helicopter replacement program, reports Roxana Tiron of The Hill. The CSAR-X program already is under a second Government Accountability Office review,causing concern that the service will not be able to make a new award by this fall, thereby delaying the critical replacement of old CSAR helicopters. Last year’s award to Boeing’s HH-47 continued to evoke considerable controversy, even after USAF acceded to a GAO ruling and reopened the competition to the original three competitors—Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Sikorsky. The Air Force limited the extent of new proposals, prompting Lockheed and Sikorsky to file new protests with GAO.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
