The U.S. Air Force Wants to Continue its Light-Attack Experiment. Will Industry Buy In? By Valerie Insinna - Defense News
If the U.S. Air Force takes two years to conduct a light-attack experiment — made possible in part by industry investments — and then abandons it, why should defense contractors buy into the next one?
That was the question posed to the Air Force’s top uniformed acquisition official by one attendee of a Feb. 1 event held by the Air Force Association.
"I think there’s a skepticism out here,” said Mike Loh, a retired Air Force four-star general who now runs a consulting firm.
“There’s got to be a requirement or funding or both at the end of that, otherwise you’ve got guys in industry that are investing a lot of money, and they’re looking back at light-attack aircraft,” he said. “What did you do? Nothing. You put it on the back burner.”
Loh’s question highlights the confusion surrounding the Air Force’s path forward on the light-attack experiment, as well as unease about the way the service approaches industry investment in short-term experimentation or development campaigns with no clear contract award at the end of the process.
Industry investments have already allowed the service to fly the aircraft, set up logistics infrastructure and try new capabilities…