The teaming arrangement created almost two years ago between Boeing and Lockheed Martin to pursue the Air Force’s next-generation bomber is officially “in stasis mode right now,” according to Boeing Phantom Works chief Darryl Davis. Speaking with reporters Monday via telecon, Davis said the two companies aren’t clear at this point just what the Air Force wants in a long-range strike aircraft. He said the two companies would continue to watch USAF requirements unfold and decide later whether to stay linked on this project. “I’m not sure that the agreement will endure,” he said, “and at this point, I’d say the jury is still out on what we’ll do.” Thus far, the two companies have “collaborated on a lot of configuration studies, a lot of technology roadmaps” and accomplished “an awful lot,” he noted.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.