Things will be different in this CSAR-X go-around (see above), the Air Force’s senior acquisition official Sue Payton said Thursday. She told Pentagon reporters: “I’m very pleased that we have great support from the Army and the Navy. They will be helping us with the source selection.” This appears to be a growing trend. Payton likened the assist from other service acquisition personnel to the Army-Air Force work on the Joint Cargo Aircraft program and other work the Air Force has done on Navy acquisition efforts. “We’re doing some cross-fertilization here,” Payton said, adding that the Navy and Army have excellent domain knowledge on helicopters, so will be able to leverage that in the selection process.
Australia’s military will help the Pentagon pursue so-called “air-breathing” hypersonic weapons and more under the U.S.-run Allied Prototyping Initiative, the U.S. Defense Department said Nov. 30. The Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) initiative “will be essential to the future of hypersonic research and development, ensuring the U.S. and…