Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne tells reporters that USAF would limit the new bidding war over the CSAR-X combat search and rescue aircraft replacement program to the original three contractors. Boeing won the program last year (see Nov. 9, 2006), but the Government Accountability Office upheld two successive protests by losing bidders-Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky. (On April 6, 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates ended the CSAR-X program.)
The "Air Force One" replacement will be two to three years late due to pandemic issues, testing, and the loss of a subcontractor on the interior, USAF officials reported at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. They were also warned that some HASC members will insist on a competition for…