Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told lawmakers last week that the service expects to award a KC-X tanker contract in January, not Feb. 29 as staffers for Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) told media in Mobile. Perhaps there is some confusion with the CSAR-X combat search and rescue helicopter program award, which Wynne said USAF now expects to award in mid-February. At an Oct. 24 House Armed Services Committee hearing, Wynne said on the KC-X award, “We right now are treating both competitors with extreme fairness. … We have done a very serious look at what they’ve done, and I still hope that we can by January of next year come to an agreement and award the KC-X contract, and that’s where I’m aiming.”
The Air Force has picked Northrop Grumman over L3Harris and Lockheed Martin to develop and build the Stand-in Attack Weapon, meant to swiftly destroy enemy air defense sites and other high-value targets.