Boeing will no longer pursue the $3 billion contract to provide operations and maintenance support at the Air Force’s space launch ranges on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, reported the Washington Business Journal. It was in the company’s best interest to “focus resources in other areas,” said Boeing spokeswoman Ellen Buhr, according to the July 12 WBJ report. The decision comes roughly a year after Boeing announced its intent to pursue the launch test range system integrated support contract, with which the service aims to consolidate its three current contracts for range support services into one. “It’s never an easy decision to have to refocus, especially in a competition like this, where it would have been our entry into the market,” Alma Dayawon, spokeswoman for Boeing’s training systems and services, told the Daily Report July 13. Still pursuing the LISC contract are reportedly Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, among others.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.