The Air Force really, really doesn’t want to offer any new details about its Long Range Strike bomber.
In light of last Friday’s comments by the new head of Air Force acquisition, Bill LaPlante, to the effect that the new RFP for the Long Range Strike bomber would be out in “days,” I dug around for some new detail about the program.
Here’s the official response, courtesy of Ed Gulick, Air Force acquisition spokesman:
“The Air Force is committed to a fair acquisition process to select a new long range strike bomber that supports national security requirements at an affordable price for the taxpayer. To ensure this occurs, we are prohibited from releasing information while in the current phase of the acquisition lifecycle. Additionally, many aspects of the program are classified in order to ensure sensitive information is protected from release to potential advisories. Future release of acquisition milestones will be considered and released as appropriate.”
The sentence about their being “prohibited from releasing information” now is, well, just baloney. They may not want to. They may fear a repetition of the tanker fiasco and think that by keeping mum that will help avert same. The statement that much of the program is classified rings true. I have only talked with one Air Force official who has said anything in any detail about the bomber. And it wasn’t much — just that it will be much faster than anything that currently flies such missions. We’ve heard in the last few years about the hot section and other new engine technology work called Advent being done by Pratt & Whitney and General Electric. Will this research provide key technology to boost the new bomber’s speed?
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