Government Accountability Office auditors have dismissed one portion of US Aerospace’s legal protest against the Air Force in the KC-X tanker contest. In an interim ruling, GAO has found “there was insufficient support” for allegations that Air Force officials engaged in “bad faith” and intentional misconduct to prevent the company from submitting a KC-X bid, GAO spokesman Charles Young told the Daily Report Thursday. US Aerospace had levied the charge that lingering Cold War bias against the company’s Ukrainian supplier drove USAF officials to act improperly. GAO could not substantiate that. GAO has yet to rule on the remaining portion of the company’s protest—whether the company’s proposal was turned in late, as USAF contends. GAO will address that matter in its final ruling, which Young expects to be issued by Oct. 6. (For background, read Wright-Patt-Gate.)
Northrop Grumman has broken ground on a major new production facility for the B-21 Raider, the company and the Air Force announced Oct. 6. The construction comes as a top service official said testing on the bomber is going well in the lead up to its planned introduction into the…
