The two contenders for the Army-Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft program have submitted their final proposals. A Feb. 2 release from Team JCA—Raytheon and EADS CASA North America—notes that the C-295 military transport “has proven itself through ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and humanitarian missions worldwide.” A Feb. 2 release from L-3 Communications, which is partnered with Boeing, Alenia North America, and Global Military Aircraft Systems on the C-27 J, calls its entrant the “most robust, survivable, and combat-capable aircraft” in the running for the new medium-lift transport. (Remember the Lockheed Martin entrant, the C-130J, got the boot from the Army last year and lost its protest.) Army and Air Force officials will be evaluating the two aircraft over the next couple of months and expect to announce a selection in May.
The Space Force is playing midwife to a new ecosystem of commercial satellite constellations providing alternatives to the service’s own Global Positioning Service from much closer to the Earth, making their signals more accurate and harder to jam.
