Despite 
press reports that the newly announced US Aerospace-Antonov team has asked the Pentagon for a 60-day extension to file its proposal for the Air Force’s KC-X tanker, there is no indication that the Defense Department is ready to extend Friday’s proposal deadline. “Bids are due Friday,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told the Daily Report late Tuesday when contacted about this. The US Aerospace-Antonov team became official only on Tuesday with the signing of an agreement to jointly pursue the KC-X contract. It enters a playing field already occupied by aerospace heavyweights Boeing and EADS North America, both of which are poised to turn in their bids on Friday, reports The Hill. The proposal deadline was already extended once by 60 days after EADS declared its intent to compete on its own following the withdrawal of its former KC-X partner Northrop Grumman. (See Wednesday’s Dew Line blog entry.)
The Air Force kicked off one of its biggest exercises this week with the latest edition of Bamboo Eagle, featuring combined virtual and live training scenarios focused on test the command-and-control “nervous system” leaders need to operate on a complex joint battlefield spread over vast distances.
