The Air Force has yet to decide whether it will accede to the Government Accountability Office recommendation to re-compete the combat search and rescue replacement helicopter program awarded to Boeing last fall, much to the surprise and dismay of Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky. However, the only official statement so far indicates USAF does not necessarily think a new CSAR-X competition will be necessary when it applies “the intent” of GAO’s recommendations “more narrowly.” The Air Force says it needs more time “ to fully review the details” before it can “determine an appropriate plan of action.”
The Air Force’s Experimental Operations Unit hosted a change of command ceremony recently, another sign of how the CCA concept is maturing and becoming entrenched in the Air Force’s structure, to the point where exercises have generated multiple sorties in a single day to simulate high-tempo combat operations.