The surprise withdrawal of the aerospace giant could give Boeing a leg up as the Air Force moves toward a contract award for a new fleet of refuelers, analysts told Breaking Defense.
"We just kind of need to get their no-kidding ground truth of, ‘this is what we think we can deliver and when we think we can deliver it,'" Andrew Hunter, the service's acquisition chief, said in a Sept. 5 interview at the Pentagon.
The initial command and control gateway to earn a continuous Authority to Operate is changing multi-domain operations.
“I think what you're hearing from individuals like Hon. Hunter and Hon. Kendall is a recognition that the requirements that went into the JCIDS process are not revolutionary," said Scott Boyd, Air Force deputy program manager for mobility aircraft.
Lockheed's selection of GE Aerospace's CF6 engines comes as the Air Force weighs sole-sourcing a next round of tankers to Boeing or opening up a competition.
Air Force acquisition chief Andrew Hunter indicated he was leaning toward buying 75 more KC-46A tankers as a bridge to an accelerated next-gen program.
Rob Wittman, who is currently the top Republican on the HASC’s seapower and projection forces subcommittee, is seeking the chair of HASC’s tactical air and land forces subcommittee next year.
Consolidate network monitoring, performance management, and fault isolation into a single, comprehensive solution.
“If the [KC-Y] competition doesn't go forward, I'm not convinced the next competition would be for a [clean-sheet KC-Z]," said Larry Gallogly, Lockheed’s LMXT campaign director.
"This will easily be Buy American Act [compliant]. It's not even going to be close," L3Harris CEO Chris Kubasik said of the effort with Brazil's Embraer.
L3Harris believes that the KC-390 could be a key piece of the Air Force's next-generation KC-Z family of tankers due to its smaller size and ability to operate in austere environments.
Currently, the Air Force envisions its next-generation KC-Z tanker as a family of systems, which could include a tanker aircraft as well as “other technologies, whether it's survivability, or connectivity, or maybe efficiencies that we want to pull into that,” said program officer Paul Waugh.
Michigan’s defense ecosystem and expertise makes it a special asset for production.
Although lawmakers repeatedly said their position wasn't meant to favor a particular company, in some respects the debate was held over parochial lines, as some of the most outspoken had interests in their districts.
The KC-46A is the only tanker that meets stringent U.S. civil and military aviation requirements.
The LMXT — a variant of the Airbus 330 Multi Role Trainer Transport — will be assembled in Mobile, Ala., before being converted into a tanker in Marietta, Ga.
Offered in response to the Air Force’s KC-Y Program, Lockheed Martin’s American-built LMXT offers impressive capabilities and proven track-record.