Alabama Aircraft Industries Inc. has decided not to place too much stock in the Government Accountability Office’s recent rejection of its protest over the Air Force’s KC-135 depot maintenance contract award to Boeing. Instead, AAII (formerly Pemco) plans to file a lawsuit in federal claims court. GAO first sustained a portion of AAI’s protest issues, but in its most recent ruling (June 13) side with USAF, prompting the service to lift its stop work order. In a June 26 release, AAII states it is the company’s “firm belief” that “if proposals were evaluated fully and reasonably, it would be selected” for this contract, valued at some $1 billion. Using similar language to what Boeing has used in its protest of the KC-X award to rival Northrop Grumman-EADS, AAII President Ron Aramini said, “We believe that the Air Force’s award of the KC-135 maintenance contract to Boeing is significantly flawed.”
As the Air Force readied for its June 21-22 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the service was also putting its Agile Combat Employment strategy into action, dispersing combat aircraft and Airmen from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in preparation for a possible Iranian retaliatory attack. Some defense experts say…
