The Air Force is hosting a ceremony today at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to honor the F117A Nighthawk, the world’s first stealth attack aircraft that USAF is phasing out of service after 27 years of operations. The event will include an...

Boeing has decided to protest the KC-X tanker award to rival Northrop Grumman, issuing a press release late Monday citing “serious flaws in the process.” The company came out swinging earlier Monday, saying in a two-page paper that it submitted “a strong and extremely competitive proposal” and remains concerned how USAF conducted the evaluation. Using data from the March 7 debrief from USAF, the company said its KC-767 tanker proposal scored “exceptional” and “low risk” in mission capability, met or exceeded all key performance parameters, and had “significantly more strengths (discriminators)” than rival Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 bid in this area. Boeing said its proposal risk was also rated “low.” But “surprisingly,” so, too, was Northrop Grumman’s despite what Boeing characterized as “high risk associated with its evolving multi-country, multi-facility, multi-build approach” compared to Boeing’s own “integrated and lean build approach.” Boeing’s past performance was rated “satisfactory,” as was Northrop’s, although European aircraft maker Airbus, the latter’s KC-30 partner, has “no relevant tanker experience and having never delivered a tanker with a refueling boom.” The Air Force deemed Boeing’s most probable life cycle cost as “reasonable,” “balanced,” and meeting realism criteria, all representing the highest ratings a competitor can receive, the company said. The results of the final selection criterion, the integrated assessment of fleet effectiveness, are “inconsistent and unrepeatable” and the assessment itself is of “questionable” operational relevance for several reasons, Boeing said. They include the fact that Northrop Grumman had an inherent advantage since it developed the assessment model. Also, changes were made to the model before and after the release of the request for proposals that allowed a larger aircraft like the KC-30 to compete. “In the end,” Boeing said, the Air Force selected “a larger, more expensive and operationally limited KC-30 tanker.” Jim McNerney, Boeing’s chairman, president, and CEO, said making the protest “is an extraordinary step rarely taken by our company, and one we take very seriously.”

Prior to Boeing announcing its protest (see above) in the KC-X contest, Northrop Grumman issued an updated document to set the facts straight from its perspective on its winning tanker platform, its industry team and work share in the United...

On Feb. 27, C-130s from the 317th Airlift Group at Dyess AFB, Tex., conducted airborne training on the grounds of Ft. Hood, Tex., for the first time in more than 10 years. “We’re excited to conduct joint airdrop and air-land...

The announcement of the Air Force’s selection for the permanent location of its new Cyber Command could extend beyond the end of the year, according to the service’s installations, environment, and logistics chief William Anderson. He doesn’t believe the Air...

The Air Force now has its first Air Force Reserve space wing in place with the activation of the 310th Space Wing March 7 at Schriever AFB. Colo. “This activation is an indication of our continued growth in the Air...

Last week the House Armed Services Committee issued its Roles and Missions Panel’s report, which may seem a tad short on substance with its short essays meant to provoke critical thought. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), panel chair, writes, “The panel’s...

Twelfth Air Force, also known as Air Forces Southern, transitioned from a traditional numbered air force to the service’s new organizational structure during a ceremony Feb. 29 at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. The reorganization creates a new component headquarters “responsible to...

The Air Force Academy celebrated the creation of the “world’s oldest astronautics department” last week, marking its 50th anniversary, according to a March 7 academy release. During its 50 years, the program has “launched the careers of countless space pioneers...

March 7-8, 2008 Sortie Type OIF OEF OIF/OEF Total YTD ISR 51 15 66 1,776 CAS/Armed Recon 102 85 187 5,494 Airlift 302 302 8,144 Air refueling 89 89 2,578 Total 644 17,992 OIF=Operation Iraqi Freedom OEF=Operation Enduring Freedom ISR=Intelligence-surveillance-reconnaissance...