Boeing is “very happy” in its partnership with Lockheed Martin to develop technologies and eventually a proposal for the next generation bomber, and the arrangement will stay intact for now, Boeing Military Aircraft President Chris Chadwick told reporters Wednesday. The team comprises the only two fighter primes left in the US, and “we complement each other” very well, he said. The partnership was announced last year on the assumption that money would be in the Fiscal 2010 budget to start designing the bomber. The team is awaiting guidance out of the Quadrennial Defense Review about new timing and direction for the bomber project and will stay together at least until those announcements are made. Chadwick declined to speculate whether the two would stay married if the bomber turns into a large unmanned platform; both companies have a goal of becoming a key prime in future unmanned systems.
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
