Hawker Beechcraft last week filed a protest against the Air Force with the Government Accountability Office after claiming that the service has been unfairly keeping it in the dark as to why its AT-6 bid is excluded from further consideration in the Light Air Support competition. “Yesterday, we received notification that the United States Air Force formally denied our second request for a debriefing,” wrote the company in a Nov. 22 release. “As a result, we still have no information on why the Beechcraft AT-6 was excluded.” The company said its exclusion “appears at this point to have been made without basis in process or fact.” Accordingly, “we are very interested in learning more about the decision and look forward to the results of the GAO’s review.” According to GAO’s website, the company filed the protest on Nov. 21; GAO has until Feb. 29 to issue its ruling.
Lockheed Martin plans to enter the Advanced Tactical Trainer fray to supply the Air Force with a new jet to bridge between undergraduate flight instruction and fighter training units, but declined to say whether it will offer a T-50A derivative, a different non-developmental airplane, or a clean-sheet design. It's comments…