In searching for the right aircraft to replace its fleet of HH-60 Pave Hawk combat search and rescue helicopters, the Air Force discounted platforms offering the most advanced technology in favor of one that “doesn’t hold us hostage” to technology that hasn’t matured and that would take longer to deliver, declared Sue Payton, Air Force acquisition chief. There was no intent to find “the most elegant, grand solution,” she explained to reporters at the CSAR-X award announcement. Instead, she added, the Air Force sought what would “vastly improve what we have today in the HH-60 helicopters, but we have some growth potential in the future.”
The Space Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $398 million contract to design and build a communications satellite prototype with advanced anti-jam and data processing capabilities. The service announced the contract for the Enhanced Protected Tactical SATCOM-Prototype program, or Enhanced PTS-P, May 15, and said the satellite will launch no sooner than…