The U.S. Air Force has issued a draft solicitation for the Light Attack Aircraft program as the service prepares to release the final request for proposals in December. The draft RFP comes after it wrapped up the Light Attack Experiment’s second phase that involved aircraft offerings from Textron and the Sierra Nevada–Embraer team, the Air Force said […] More

Five companies have won separate 12-month other transaction agreements to develop automatic rifle prototypes for the U.S. Army. The OTAs announced Thursday in a FedBizOpps notice will cover the development and production of a system demonstrator representative of level 6 technology and manufacturing readiness under the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle program. The Army seeks an NGSAR […] More

Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, top acquisition official at the U.S. Air Force, has said the service will call off the remaining flights in its light-attack experiment following the death of a naval pilot in an aircraft crash on June 22, Defense News reported Tuesday. The accident involved the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft from the Sierra Nevada–Embraer team. […] More

Textron‘s Bell subsidiary has conducted the first public demonstration of the V-280 Valor tiltrotor prototype for the U.S. Army’s capability demonstration program, which is expected to be completed in 2019, Defense News reported Wednesday. The aircraft reached 170 knots in the first pass and 175 knots in the second pass of the demonstration while on hover […] More

The government of Bulgaria has asked the parliament’s permission to approve the planned procurement of up to 16 fighter aircraft and 150 combat vehicles, SeeNews.com reported Wednesday. Bulgaria intends to make the fighter jet procurement in two phases with plans to buy up to eight aircraft worth approximately $1.1 billion in total under the first […] More

Textron‘s Bell subsidiary has received a three-year, five-month delivery order worth up to $37.4 million from the Defense Logistics Agency for the supply of a helicopter gearbox. The company will provide main rotor gearbox assemblies for the U.S. Navy under the delivery order against a five-year basic ordering agreement, the Defense Department said Thursday. The […] More

TeraThink has appointed Deborah Lee James, a 35-year public and private sector veteran, to the federal technology and management consulting firm’s board of directors. The company said Monday James joins the board four months after the Reston, Virginia-based company merged with Dominion Consulting. James said she aims to help government clients improve their operations and business processes as part of a […] More

Sierra Nevada Corp. and Turkish Aerospace Industries have developed a trainer aircraft in order to compete for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X program that seeks to replace the T-38 jet, Quwa reported Monday. Bilal Khan writes SNC and TAI established a Colorado-based subsidiary, Freedom Aircraft Ventures, to offer the Freedom Trainer aircraft. The Freedom Trainer jet will be equipped with […] More

A Spirit AeroSystems-built fuselage was used on the first flight of the Bell Helicopter-designed V-280 Valor aircraft at the latter’s Amarillo, Texas-based facility. Spirit AeroSystems said Wednesday it developed the aluminum sub-structured fuel fuselage in under 22 months at its Kansas-based facility in support of the Bell V-280 Valor program. The Bell V-280 Valor program […] More

Textron‘s Bell Helicopter subsidiary has conducted the first flight of a next-generation tiltrotor aircraft built to help U.S. military clients meet requirements for a vertical lift platform. Textron said Monday the V-280 Valor aircraft was designed to help users conduct various vertical lift missions previously infeasible using one aircraft as well as offer updated speed […] More

Textron‘s Bell Helicopter subsidiary has received a $27.2 million modification under a a U.S. Army foreign military sales contract to deliver four Bell 412EP utility helicopters to the Argentina’s air force. The Defense Department said Thursday Bell Helicopter will also provide helicopter training services under the modification. Work is expected to finish by June 20, 2018. The 412EP […] More

The Aerospace Industries Association has named at least 20 executives from the government contracting sector to its board of governors for 2018. Thomas Kennedy, chairman and CEO of Raytheon, will succeed Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg as chairman of AIA, the trade group said Monday. William Brown, chairman, president and CEO of Harris, will serve as […] More