The Air Force will issue the UH-1N helicopter replacement program request for information and requirements documents next Friday, the service announced Wednesday. In May, the service said there will be a “full and open competition” to replace the fleet that protects ICBM fields even though Defense Secretary Ash Carter testified in April there was an urgent need for replacements. That same month lawmakers urged the Pentagon to detail its plan to protect the nuclear forces at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., Minot AFB, N.D., and F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., until the new helicopter comes online.
Weeks after senior Air Force leaders revealed the service would shed a number of the re-optimization initiatives pursued by their predecessors, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman confirmed the Space Force is retaining all of the space-specific elements of the strategy.

