According to Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz the answer to that question is “not fully cooked, but it will be by the end of the month,” testifying at the May 21 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the 2010 Air Force budget proposal. However, that report is not necessarily for public consumption, for as Air Force Secretary Michael Donley pointed out that report is due to Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn. Donley said, too, “I do not think this report will be the last report; I think this is an interim description of how far the conversations have gone, what issues we’ve identified, and the path we have outlined forward … related to the future bed downs, related to the program management transfer of responsibility.” When pressed as to whether the Army National Guard would still fly the new C-27s, Schwartz replied, “How this is going to lay in and who’s going to do it is not yet a done deal.”
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…