The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Nov. 17 overturned an earlier ruling by a lower court and restored a $1 billion KC-135 maintenance contract to Boeing that had been disputed by Alabama Aircraft Industries. The appeals court said the lower claims court erred when it called USAF’s “price-realism analysis” during the contract award process “arbitrary and capricious.” AAI protested the award to the Government Accountability Office, which eventually upheld the Air Force decision to award the contract to Boeing. AAI then filed a lawsuit in federal claims court and won that round last fall. (Also see Reuters report; Birmingham News report) (Appeals court ruling)
Northrop Grumman test fired its newest solid rocket motor Dec. 4, part of an internally funded effort to rapidly design and build SRMs using advanced manufacturing techniques.
