According to Reuters news service, the Air Force’s forecast for a new contract with Boeing for two-year’s worth of launches is only delayed, not dead. USAF had expected to close the deal in late spring, but it now looks like it will be sometime this summer. Reuters also finds that approval for the joining of Boeing and Lockheed Martin for a United Launch Alliance is still in the hands of the Federal Trade Commission.
The Air Force has begun flying its CV-22 Ospreys again. But that is just the start of a multi-step process to return the fleet to normal operations following a deadly crash last year, the service says.