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February 6, 2017 By AMK

Northrop scratch-built a jet to bid on an Air Force contract — now it’s dropping out

The decision leaves three, or maybe four, potential bidders on the 350-plane T-X program.

Northrop Grumman said it would not bid to build a pilot-training jet for the U.S. Air Force, despite spending more than four years quietly building a plane for the job. That leaves three potential bidders for the 350-aircraft, multibillion-dollar T-X program.

In a short statement, officials with Northrop and its partner BAE Systems said they made the decision after reviewing the Air Force’s parameters for the competition, issued in late December.

“The companies have decided not to submit a proposal for the T-X Trainer program, as it would not be in the best interest of the companies and their shareholders,” Northrop said in a statement.

That announcement was foreshadowed last week when Wes Bush — Northrop chairman, CEO and president — declined to commit to bidding to replace the Air Force’s decades-old T-38 Talon jets, also made by Northrop.

“We are presently assessing the terms presented by [the bidding parameters] to determine whether we see an appropriate business opportunity for us to submit a bid,” Bush said during a quarterly earnings call.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.defenseone.com/business/2017/02/northrop-scratch-built-jet-bid-air-force-contract-now-its-dropping-out/135060

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Air Force, competition, industrial base, T-X

October 28, 2016 By AMK

Lockheed’s pitch: Buy our training jet, save taxpayers $1 billion

Lockheed Martin could build new training jets for the U.S. Air Force more quickly than its competitors — enough to save $1 billion over six years, a top company executive said.

bidding-parametersAnd the service ought to take that into account as it evaluates bids for the $15 billion T-X project, he said.

“What we’re concerned about, frankly, is that the Air Force in their competition right now is not recognizing the value of early delivery or even on-time delivery,” said Rob Weiss, Lockheed executive vice president and general manager of Advanced Development Programs.

Lockheed is running its pursuit of the contract through Weiss’s group, the secretive division better known as the Skunk Works, birthplace of the U-2 spyplane, SR-71 Blackbird, and F-117 stealth fighter.

Here’s how the firm calculates the $1 billion in savings: The Air Force says it wants the first 16 planes ready to train pilots by 2024, but Lockheed says it could deliver the planes three years early. That would allow the Air Force to start getting rid of its T-38 Talon trainers sooner.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2016/10/lockheeds-pitch-buy-our-training-jet-save-taxpayers-1-billion/132520

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Air Force, bid proposal, delivery orders, evaluation criteria, Lockheed Martin, proposal evaluation, skunk works, T-38 Talon, T-X

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