Lockheed Martin acknowledged Tuesday that it has submitted follow-up questions on the draft amended request for proposals the Air Force issued last week after meeting with Air Force officials May 17. Lockheed spokesman Greg Caires said, “We are now awaiting the release of the final amended RFP and hope that the issues we’re raised will be addressed by that document.” Sikorsky also has concerns with the amended RFP, prompting Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D) to question the Air Force about how it intends to evaluate fuel costs. Another contentious issue reportedly has to do with the change USAF made in the original RFP, requiring “flight-ready” not “mission-ready” status. The later is a more stringent requirement. Original CSAR-X award winner Boeing, according to the Government Accountability Office, barely passed—two minutes under—the flight-ready performance factor. And, there are other lingering questions.
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…