Last-minute intervention halts request for proposals in US Army’s 33-aircraft, $1.3 billion FCA programme
The US Army’s Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) programme has been delayed indefinitely following a last-minute intervention by the Department of Defense’s top acquisition official.
Meanwhile, Boeing has moved a step closer to formally joining the competitive phase of the programme, but as a partner to the C-27J proposal offered by Alenia/L-3 Communications joint venture Global Military Aircraft Systems (GMAS).
The army has told two bidding teams that the release of a request for proposals for the 33-aircraft, $1.3 billion FCA programme has been delayed by two months until 15 December. However, the open-ended nature of the intervention by Kenneth Krieg, assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, leaves room for increased doubt.
Krieg halted the pending competitive phase to request an “acquisition strategy report,” according to the army’s Aviation and Missile Command, which says it has no timescale for Krieg’s review to conclude.
The last-minute snag comes after US Air Force leaders suddenly opened a barrage of attacks on the army’s fixed-wing airlifter programme. Last year, army officials said they had overcome concerns about FCA encroaching on the USAF’s traditional intra-theatre airlift role. But with the army now projecting a potential need for about 130 aircraft, the air force seems to have changed its mind.
Last August, the then-USAF chief of staff Gen John Jumper began to publicly question the army’s plans for FCA, and his successor, Gen Michael Moseley, has continued that policy.
Meanwhile, the GMAS industry team faces a dramatic shake-up, with its board of directors having approved a plan to make Boeing a risk-sharing partner on the C-27J bid, say industry insiders. Boeing is seeking to obtain a final assembly role with the C-27J, using the aircraft to help fill production slots on its Long Beach, California line now occupied by the C-17.
The expanded GMAS team faces competition from a Raytheon/EADS North America proposal based on the EADS Casa C-295 and/or CN-235 designs.
STEPHEN TRIMBLE/WASHINGTON
Source: Flight International
