Asked at a Sept. 15 press availability at AFA’s Air & Space Conference if the service can award a contract in the Combat Search and Rescue helicopter competition this year, Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, said, “I believe so.” Lessons learned from the arduous and thrice-protested CSAR-X competition should bear fruit before the end of December and will be applied to the upcoming tanker competition redux, Donley asserted.
A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes in the Middle East are flying with fresh modifications as the Air Force looks to make the plane more versatile amid America’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports and a tenuous ceasefire in the U.S. air war against Iran.