Lockheed Martin Follows Sikorsky in CSAR-X Protest

Lockheed Martin’s Systems Integration has followed Sikorsky Aircraft in protesting the U.S. Air Force’s Nov. 9 award of the $10-billion-plus Combat Search-and-Rescue-X contract to Boeing and its HH-47 Chinook variant. The Oswego, N.Y.-based unit is the lead on the Team US101 partnership with AgustaWestland and Bell Helicopter that offered a version of AgustaWestland’s EH101 for the contract. In a prepared statement, Lockheed Martin said it reluctantly protested to the U.S. General Accountability Office because the team believed it offered "the most capable and most affordable solution." The GAO must rule by Feb. 28 on the protest, though it likely will combine its ruling with that on Sikorsky’s protest, which is due a decision Feb. 28. More