The U.S. Air Force is applying its method of drawing innovative ideas into the service to help provide aerospace suppliers struggling in the COVID-19 downturn with the cash flow they need to stay in business, Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said during a wide-ranging conversation with reporters. 

The KC-46 program can recover easily from a two-week pause and the Air Force acquisition executive says he has “no reason” to believe Boeing will extend the production pause.

Air Combat Command has dropped a plan to award a sole-source contract to Hillwood Aviation to supply Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin T-50s for a five-year demonstration program, opting for a competition instead.

Austrian aerospace parts and services provider FACC said March 25 that “a large part” of its staff is expected to apply for “short-term work” starting April 6, and that it will revise plans to ramp up a new Croatian factory, as well as suspend its dividend payment to shareholders for 2019. 

The Pentagon’s acquisition arm is tackling the military’s response to the novel coronavirus with a two-pronged approach: securing authorities for the defense industrial base to continue work while simultaneously supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a DOD official said.

EPlane, an electronic marketplace startup for aviation aftermarket parts and MRO, announced March 24 that it landed $9 million in new funding from Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp. 

CPI Aerostructures of Edgewood, New York, said March 24 it will remain open and operating after state officials branded it an “essential business” to keep going while Albany leaders otherwise roll out a shelter-in-place mandate for New York residents.

The troubled stories of the L-1011, C-5A and Lockheed from over 49 years ago and today’s headlines about the 737 MAX, KC-46 and Boeing are converging