Air Force Secretary Wynne told defense reporters Tuesday that he expects the draft request for proposals for the next aerial tanker to be out by the end of the month. Further revisions are beating a dead horse, he said. And, in his view, there are only two qualified bidders: Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team. Wynne indicated that USAF isn’t interested in farming out some of the work to a private contractor, such as Omega Air, which has said it wants to provide tanking services to meet part of the requirement. However, Wynne does not believe a company should have to start learning how to do night tanking on the first day of a war.
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.