Senior officials in a background briefing Friday repeated the Pentagon’s intent to ensure the new KC-X competition will be crystal clear and emphasized that it would include, for the first time, an independent technical requirements review team. Its function will be to connect the decision through the evaluation to the requirements. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said on Thursday that the new team would assess “how we evaluated the proposals.” Of the more than 150 to 200 government personnel involved, a senior official confirmed Friday that one or two OSD people may have participated last time out, and he emphasized the “much more comprehensive” work by the requirements review team “is very different than what was done last time around.” He noted that it would essentially be the same for every new major source selection, saying, “This is the way we do business now.” (DOD transcript)
The Thunderbirds will kick off their 2021 season on April 17, debuting an overhauled aerial performance routine following a 2020 air show season largely canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Air Force Demonstration Team will debut the new routine at the Cocoa Beach Air Show in Florida April…