Contenders Line Up for JCA: There’s been a flurry of activity on the Joint Cargo Aircraft program, with three separate teams offering their respective platforms for the competition. Lockheed Martin formally said it would offer a short-fuselage variant of its combat-tested C-130J Hercules. The team of Raytheon and EADS CASA North America is sticking with two intratheater airlifters, the C-295 and CN-235—to be constructed in Mobile, Ala. And, the Boeing –L3 Communications-Alenia North America team does plan to offer the C-27J Spartan. Now, all the program needs is Army money for 2007.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.