Alabama Aircraft Industries, Inc. filed a new legal protest against the Air Force March 12 concerning a $1.1 billion maintenance contract for the KC-135 tanker. The Birmingham News reported March 13 that the AAII filed the protest—its second complaint since last September in the ongoing dispute—based on the belief that USAF failed to comply with an earlier Government Accountability Office ruling in the company’s favor. AAII (formerly Pemco Aviation) lost out to Boeing last September in the original competition, but won a protest with the GAO last December over how the Air Force evaluated the risk in Boeing’s proposal. USAF agreed to go back and reevaluate, but after doing so, it concluded earlier this month that Boeing deserved the contract. Birmingham-based AAII says it needs the contract to maintain full employment. GAO has 100 days to rule.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…