The Air Force awarded Cessna Aircraft a $88.5 million contract to provide 32 light lift aircraft to the Afghan air force under the Afghanistan Basic Trainer/Lift Family program. With this foreign military sale, Cessna will deliver six T-182Ts and 26 C-208Bs, which are based on the company’s 182 Skylane and 208 Caravan civil models, respectively. These airplanes will support AAF counterinsurgency operations. USAF is also considering procurement of an additional 15 Cessna aircraft to support the training of its air advisors at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and is holding open the possibility of buying a further 24 aircraft at some later point, reports Flightglobal. (See also DOD’s May 26 list of major contracts.)
A legislative standoff has led to a lapse in a $4.26 billion small business innovation contracting program widely used by the Air Force and could spell the end of it entirely, industry sources warned Air & Space Forces Magazine.
