some good info in these threads:

C-5M updates

More C-17s considered harmful

UAE Halts Talks to Buy French Rafale Fighter Jets -Report

The United Arab Emirates has halted negotiations with France to buy Rafale fighter jets . . . He said the Gulf country has decided to reduce the share of its military spending on French equipment to 10% from a previous level of 70%

Boeing’s T-X Bid A Bellwether For Future Bids

Davis notes that since Boeing is not bounded by the capabilities of an aircraft that already has been built, the company can tinker with the balance of what learning can be done on the ground and what must be done in high-cost flight hours.

KC-46A is a fixed-cost contract.

Again, that’s completely irrelevant because that’s not the type of contract the X-32 would have gotten.

KC-X was envisioned as an off-the-shelf, minimal risk project which is why the pentagon pushed for a fixed-price contract.

And it should be noted that Boeing STRENUOUSLY objected to that, and that was for a very well understood program. They NEVER would have done it for a completely new, bleeding-edge aircraft like the X-32

And the Super Hornet was delivered on time and on budget. Boeing has a good track record in terms of project execution.

SuperHornet was a long time ago. More recent history shows that Boeing sucks as much as anyone. 787 execution was an epic fail and Wedgetail was even worse.

And the structure of Boeing’s JSF proposal in which the A & C models share a common airframe ensures that an F-35 like disaster would not have taken place with the F-32.

i have some lovely land in florida to sell you . . .

1. Boeing does project management much better than Lockheed due to its commercial aviation roots.

*cough*787*cough*

The F-35 program has A&B models as common airframe, so the A model’s screwed if the B model’s screwed, and that’s exactly what happened. A very poor project planning on Lockheed’s part.

no, all 3 airframes are unique

anyways, back on topic,

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2012/10/usaf-releases-draft-t-x-kpps.html

One of the requirements is that it should be able to take the place of the F-22 bridge course (Eight rides in a two-seat F-16, doing night aerial refueling and making sure the new guys can pull 9Gs while operating the radar and what not) before new pilots head to the Raptor B-course.

is that actually in the docs, or is he just talking about what is currently done with the F-16s?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/24/us-brazil-defense-jets-idUSBRE88N0SU20120924

Exclusive: Brazil delays jets decision until 2013; Boeing ascendant

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has decided to wait until mid-2013 to make a decision on a multibillion-dollar Air Force jets contract, and Boeing’s chances of winning the deal have improved due to its recent alliances with local aircraft maker Embraer, two senior officials told Reuters

. . .

Rousseff herself will make the final decision on the jets, which will help mold Brazil’s military and strategic alliances in coming decades as it seeks to establish itself as a major global power.

The contract is on hold in part for budget reasons, one of the officials said. Rousseff just emerged from a tough battle with public workers over wage increases, and it would be politically difficult for her to approve billions of dollars in spending for military hardware so soon after alleging that finances are tight.

. . .

Reuters reported in February that Rousseff was leaning toward Dassault’s Rafale. However, since then new concerns have emerged about the Rafale’s high cost and especially the terms of the technology-sharing that Rousseff believes are the most important factors in the deal, the officials said.

Meanwhile, Boeing has earned points by announcing a series of partnerships with Embraer, which is aggressively expanding its defense operations. Embraer said in July that Boeing will supply weapons systems for its Super Tucano fighter, and the U.S. company is also helping develop Embraer’s KC-390 military transport and refueling jet.

Reuters also reported in February that Boeing has frozen the price on its bid since 2009, an unusual step that is believed to have amplified the F-18’s cost advantage over the Rafale. The per-unit cost of the jets has not been made public.

“Boeing is definitely looking better in the last few months,” a second official said.