Senior officials in a background briefing Friday repeated the Pentagon’s intent to ensure the new KC-X competition will be crystal clear and emphasized that it would include, for the first time, an independent technical requirements review team. Its function will be to connect the decision through the evaluation to the requirements. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said on Thursday that the new team would assess “how we evaluated the proposals.” Of the more than 150 to 200 government personnel involved, a senior official confirmed Friday that one or two OSD people may have participated last time out, and he emphasized the “much more comprehensive” work by the requirements review team “is very different than what was done last time around.” He noted that it would essentially be the same for every new major source selection, saying, “This is the way we do business now.” (DOD transcript)
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.