The Air Force awarded L-3 Communications of Greenville, Tex., a $321 million foreign military sales contract for 10 C-27J transport aircraft and associated hardware and logistics support for Australia. The Pentagon announcement came on May 31, some five months after defense officials notified Congress of this proposed sale. The C-27s are meant to fill a hole in Australia’s mobility forces created by the retirement of 14 DHC-4 Caribou aircraft several years ago and the planned phase-out of 12 C-130Hs. The deal comes as the US Air Force is attempting to divest its own C-27J assets in Fiscal 2013.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…