Air Force Secretary Wynne told defense reporters Tuesday that he expects the draft request for proposals for the next aerial tanker to be out by the end of the month. Further revisions are beating a dead horse, he said. And, in his view, there are only two qualified bidders: Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team. Wynne indicated that USAF isn’t interested in farming out some of the work to a private contractor, such as Omega Air, which has said it wants to provide tanking services to meet part of the requirement. However, Wynne does not believe a company should have to start learning how to do night tanking on the first day of a war.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III outlined Dec. 4 the vital importance of U.S. defense investment keeping pace with that of China before issuing a statement warning that such competition would suffer “irreparable” damage if Congress opts for a yearlong continuing resolution, a real possibility being discussed by lawmakers after…