Anna Forrester
The U.S. Air Force has moved its schedule for the award of a contract on the Long-Range Strike Bomber aircraft toward the fall, DoD Buzz reported Tuesday.
Brendan McGarry writes that Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, military deputy at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, estimated that the delay will be a “couple of months.”
Bunch told the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower and projection forces subcommittee that the LRS-B program team will continue to work with industry to move the contract process forward.
“[We] have details that we still have to work through to make sure we’re doing it fair and make sure we’re going through the process,” he said.
One team led by Northrop Grumman and another group led by Boeing and Lockheed Martin have submitted bids for the LRS-B program, which was originally slated for an award in the spring.
Andrea Shalal of Reuters also reports the Air Force received the final offers earlier this week and wants to strengthen the award decision against a potential protest.
Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), chairman of the HASC seapower and projection forces subcommittee, has noted that the delay already resulted in a program budget cut of $460 million for fiscal year 2016 and further reschedules could lead to losses of $100 million a month, the report said.
