The Air Force will be the source-selection authority in the KC-X tanker contest, which is set to restart shortly, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday in his remarks at AFA’s Air & Space Conference. His announcement, which returns to the Air Force the final say in deciding upon the new tanker design that will replace its Eisenhower-era KC-135s, was greeted with a round of applause. “I have confidence that the KC-X selection authority is in good hands with the service’s leadership team,” Gates said. Although the Air Force will now be the lead again, Gates said OSD “will continue to have a robust oversight.” Continue
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…