Air Force Secretary Wynne told defense reporters Tuesday that he expects the draft request for proposals for the next aerial tanker to be out by the end of the month. Further revisions are beating a dead horse, he said. And, in his view, there are only two qualified bidders: Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team. Wynne indicated that USAF isn’t interested in farming out some of the work to a private contractor, such as Omega Air, which has said it wants to provide tanking services to meet part of the requirement. However, Wynne does not believe a company should have to start learning how to do night tanking on the first day of a war.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. has flown a second YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft, stepping up the pace of testing for the new uncrewed fighter escort. The company also announced “Gambit 6,” a fresh variant in its CCA family meant for air-to-ground missions.
