The Air Force does not intend to invoke the “urgent and compelling” need clause in federal regulations that would enable it to continue work on the KC-X award made to Northrop Grumman despite a protest filed last week by losing competitor Boeing, according to a Press-Register report. In a written response to query by the Alabama newspaper, the Air Force said March 17 that it had “no plans at this time” to resume work until the Government Accountability Office has time to make its ruling, which could take until mid June. The ruling could come earlier, of course, but with so much Congressional scrutiny, the GAO might extend its timeline to ensure it does a most thorough scrub of the award and Boeing’s complaints.
As near-peer adversaries have increased their reach and lethality, the U.S. Air Force is accelerating the tanker fleet recapitalization and aggressively pulling forward the Next Generation Aerial Refueling System (NGAS) to meet the threat. Globally operating the KC-46A has advanced mission...