Air Force Buys Light Attack Planes For Afghans -- Not U.S.

[Tshering22]

For about the same price AAF could have bought A-10 warthogs which are most suited to the type of warfare in Afghanistan..
Bad decision by the top brass.

A-10s are not for sale outside US. A lot of countries wanted it but US hasn't put it on its offer list. The price is $11.4 million 1994 dollars. That's more than 18 years ago. Today it must be easily double the price.

 

[Sher Malang]

USAF issues new Afghan LAS draft RfP to contractors

The US Air Force has released a new draft Request for Proposal (RfP) for its Light Air Support (LAS) programme to equip the Afghan Air Force with a fixed-wing strike capability to potential contractors. However, the service is not publicly releasing the details of the new RfP, nor will it elaborate on exactly what it has changed in the new request.

"Because it is a draft, it was not posted," the USAF says. "But the air force met with both offerors and provided them a hard copy of the draft amended RfP."

Nor is the service saying what changes it has made to the document. The USAF says those details are "not releasable" because it is "source selection sensitive."

Typically, any sort of federal procurement tender is posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website-draft or otherwise. However, it is not so in this case. Apparently, the RfP was forwarded to would be contactors Sierra Nevada and its partner Embraer and to rival Hawker Beechcraft on 17 April.

The USAF had originally picked the Sierra Nevada/Embraer A-29 Super Tucano after it had ejected Hawker Beechcraft's AT-6 offering back in December 2011. However, after Hawker Beechcraft sued the US government, the USAF's original LAS programme had to be sent back to the drawing board.

The service terminated the contract because of problems with the service's internal documentation. Those problems emerged as a result of the lawsuit.

Now, once again, the two teams are in a vicious fight over the $355 million tender to supply the Afghans with 20 light attack turboprops. All the while a legal battle continues in US courts.

Source: USAF issues new Afghan LAS draft RfP to contractors

 

[ejaz007]

[SIZE=5]Embraer Partner Sues USAF To Reinstate Afghan Aircraft Award[/SIZE]


Sierra Nevada Corp. is suing the U.S. Air Force to reinstate a contract awarded late last year to build small attack planes for the Afghan Air Force.

“Despite repeated written and verbal attempts, we have not received adequate explanation — much less justification — for the termination of our contract, the reopening of the LAS competition or the readmission to the LAS competition of our competitor, whose submission was previously found to be technically deficient and carry unacceptable mission capability risk,” Taco Gilbert, vice president of ISR business development for the company, said in a June 13 statement.

Brazil-based Embraer, partnered with Sierra Nevada, proposed the Super Tucano aircraft and was awarded a $355 million Afghan contract, called Light Air Support, in December. That deal was for 20 aircraft.

Wichita, Kan.-based Hawker Beechcraft, which is a partner of Lockheed Martin, filed a lawsuit soon after the award and the Air Force eventually threw out the contract, saying it would re-evaluate bids from the two competitors. The Air Force has said there were documentation issues with the previous award and has declined to elaborate.

Sierra Nevada says the foul up “was an extreme response to what appears to be paperwork errors,” the June 13 statement said.

The Air Force investigated the canceled contract award. Beechcraft consented to the dismissal of the lawsuit; Sierra Nevada has since filed other motions of its own, including the latest on June 12.


Embraer Partner Sues USAF To Reinstate Afghan Aircraft Award | Defense News | defensenews.com

 

[Icewolf]

Thats an expensive price for a trainer...

 

[Nishan_101]

I think the US should have given off its old equiments to Afghan forces like the guns, machine guns and rifles along with vehicles like Humvees and other Armored vehicles that they are decomissioning, they all should be shipped to AFGHANISTAN ASAP.