A string of recent test failures with the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile has caused Air Force officials some heartburn. Speaking at a Capitol Hill seminar Thursday, USAF acquisition leader, Sue Payton, said that the service would be analyzing test data over the next 30 days, hoping to find a solution to problems that they do not believe are design related. However, she could not rule out program termination as an option despite JASSM being “a huge need of the warfighter.”
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.