According to the Air Force’s top acquisition official, Sue Payton, the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System program suffered a Nunn-McCurdy breach—mentioned in the April Selected Acquisition Reports—because USAF and the Navy wanted to add “improved capability to avoid diminishing manufacturing sources and obsolescence.” Payton told reporters last week that such “spiral development holds a lot of promise to get the best capability,” however it undoubtedly will result in “more Nunn-McCurdys in the future” because of the new law governing original baseline dollars. There was just one more JPATS problem. Payton said, “We also early on assumed that we would have more sales so the price per aircraft would be lower.” The JPATS program will continue.
Competitors Not Picked for CCA Look Forward to Increment 2
April 25, 2024
While none of the major aircraft contractors were selected to develop the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, all three say they are seeking further autonomous aircraft work for the Navy, foreign partners, or in the classified arena, and maybe future versions of the CCA itself.