CSAR-X contract award delayed

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http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/12/airforce_csarx_timeline_120808w/%2e
news/2008/12/airforce_csarx_timeline_120808w

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Dec 11, 2008 11:13:00 EST

If your mission is flying or fixing HH-60G Pave Hawks, do not plan on seeing the replacement rescue helicopter anytime soon.

The latest proposal for the new Combat Search and Rescue-X helicopter, released Dec. 5 by the Air Force, delays the helicopter’s initial operational capability until the summer of 2013 at the earliest and no later than the winter of 2015.

The old deadline was 2012.

Initial operation capability means there are enough aircraft available for teaching student pilots and for operational squadrons to fly training missions.

The Air Force awarded the CSAR-X contract to Boeing Co. in November 2006, but a critical review by the Government Accountability Office and successful protests by the two losing bidders, Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin/AgustaWestland, led to cancellation of the contract.

Until this fall, the Air Force was promising to have a contract awarded by the end of 2008, but continuing delays and the presidential transition led to the Air Force putting off a contract award until sometime in 2009.