Asked at a Sept. 15 press availability at AFA’s Air & Space Conference if the service can award a contract in the Combat Search and Rescue helicopter competition this year, Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, said, “I believe so.” Lessons learned from the arduous and thrice-protested CSAR-X competition should bear fruit before the end of December and will be applied to the upcoming tanker competition redux, Donley asserted.
Reports of production troubles on the SpaceX rocket that could contend for military cargo deliveries happened to coincide with a different company’s concept receiving an early nod—one that might not require a rocket at all.