Boeing is stepping up its effort to secure the contract for the Air Force’s next aerial refueling aircraft. Roxana Tiron of The Hill reports that Boeing plans to send out a summer barrage of press releases to the “top 18 states with high stakes in the tanker program.” The focus would be on the 44,000 US jobs the company now says a program to build 179 new tankers, dubbed KC-X, would support. Both Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS have their Congressional supporters. The KC-X is now USAF’s top acquisition priority, and the program would grow beyond the initial buy.
The Air Force is moving forward with a new, algorithm-driven system to help U.S. Northern Command better detect airborne threats. NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which are tasked with protecting the homeland from attack, depend on a slew of radars and other data systems to monitor U.S.…