Boeing will provide the Air Force’s new combat search and rescue aircraft, announced Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne late Thursday. Boeing’s entrant in the CSAR-X competition is a variation of its combat-proven CH-47 Chinook helicopter. The Air Force plans to purchase 141 HH-47 aircraft to replace its fleet of HH-60 Pave Hawks. Air Combat Command, the CSAR mission owner, expects to achieve initial operational capability with its first 10 HH-47s by the end of 2012.
A majority of panelists convened by the Atlantic Council to assess the situation in Ukraine believe that Russia will have enough forces—and recent practice in Belarus—to invade Ukraine within a month. A senior Air Force official concurred, saying the service expects the conflict soon.