Rockwell Collins says it has teamed with Boeing and Honeywell to vie for the Air Force’s KC-10 aircraft modernization program. Last month, Rockwell got a $3.5 million contract to conduct a KC-10 AMP concept refinement study. Contracts for work on concept studies also have gone to Northrop Grumman, ($1.1 million), Smiths Aerospace ($1.3 million), L-3 Communications ($2.1 million), and ARINC Engineering ($1.9 million). Actual award of the AMP contract—designed to outfit the combo airlifter-tanker with enhanced digital avionics—by March 2008.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.