In the slimmed down US defense industry, joining with a long-time rival is more and more the only game in town. Lockheed Martin may have just run away with a Boeing intelligence satellite program, but that doesn’t stop the two defense giants from joining forces elsewhere. They now plan to jointly compete for the next phase of the Small Diameter Bomb program. Actually, this was one of the programs Boeing thought it had sewed up—until investigators took a closer look at the Darleen Druyun maneuvers. Her efforts to garner favor by steering work toward Boeing led USAF to recompete the SDB program—valued at around $1.7 billion.
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.