Asked at a Sept. 15 press availability at AFA’s Air & Space Conference if the service can award a contract in the Combat Search and Rescue helicopter competition this year, Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, said, “I believe so.” Lessons learned from the arduous and thrice-protested CSAR-X competition should bear fruit before the end of December and will be applied to the upcoming tanker competition redux, Donley asserted.
Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held meetings with defense leaders from the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea during a trip to the Indo-Pacific this week.