Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said July 9 he is engaging Sue Payton, USAF’s acquisition executive, and her acquisition team to ensure that the Government Accountability Office’s findings in its ruling on Boeing’s successful legal protest of the KC-X tanker award are “fully understood” and “accounted for” as the service prepares to advance other big-ticket weapons programs. “The Air Force needs to rapidly apply the lessons learned from this experience” since “other Air Force acquisition decisions are on the horizon,” Donley told reporters during a Pentagon press briefing July 9. He appeared with Defense Secretary Robert Gates who laid out the path ahead for choosing the winner in the KC-X program now that the Office of the Secretary of Defense has thrown out the original decision in the wake of GAO sustaining Boeing’s legal protest of the award to Northrop Grumman/EADS. “GAO’s conclusions show that even in a large, complex procurement with considerable staff resources and oversight, work accomplished by our contracting personnel, our warfighters, and our engineers is not always adequately prepared to withstand the detailed audits and the legal challenges that we can now expect,” Donley said.
Planning an Air Show Is Hard. At Andrews, It’s Even Harder
Sept. 17, 2025
Joint Base Andrews opened its flightline this month to thousands of civilians, exposing a normally restricted airbase that regularly hosts the president and foreign dignitaries to a curious public eager to see current and historic military aircraft up close and in action.
