Some news reports may cite Air Force officials as saying the KC-X tanker program decision could be delayed beyond February. However, our man on the scene during a Thursday media session at the Pentagon said the Air Force acquisition officials were pressed into affirming an open “is it possible” question. The Air Force has said it wants to be very deliberate in their efforts here, mindful of the almost inevitable protest from the losing party. The Air Force wants to get on with the program—KC-135s aren’t getting any younger—but Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, USAF’s top military acquisition official, said the service would take the time to get the “right answer.”
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.