BREAKING [updated 4:15 pm with new contractor responses]: The Air Force will terminate its contract to buy a new Light Air Support plane for the fledgling Afghan air force, and it will launch an investigation into the original decision to select the Brazilian-designed Super Tucano aircraft being provided by Sierra Nevada Corporation. Rival contractor Hawker… Keep reading →

If you thought the Republican primaries had turned ugly, wait till you see what it takes to win an Air Force contract nowadays. The feud between Hawker Beechcraft and Sierra Nevada Corporation over the Light Air Support contract has escalated from the usual appeals to the GAO up to a lawsuit, a freeze on the… Keep reading →

Just before the New Year, the U.S. Air Force finally selected a new Light Air Support plane for ground attack in counterinsurgency, picking the Brazilian Super Tucano over the American AT-6– whose manufacturer, Wichita, Kan.-based Hawker Beechcraft, is filing suit over the decision [update: leading the Air Force to issue a stop-work order on the… Keep reading →