U.S. Air Force Said Poised to Award Bomber Contract Tuesday

Markets close at 4 EST, press conference will probably be between 4:30 and 5. No firm time yet.

a reply to: Zaphod58

BoLock will be the winner

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Markets close at 4 EST, press conference will probably be between 4:30 and 5. No firm time yet.

Will there be a livestream somewhere? Doubt it, but I can ask

a reply to: spaceman42

I haven't heard anything yet, but when the F-35 was awarded it was live on several news channels as well as online.

It's official. The announcement will be at 5:15 PM.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Which timezone would that be in, Zaph? Need to do some conversion for across-the-ponders

a reply to: Revolvacron

That's Eastern Time.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Revolvacron

That's Eastern Time.

So that's 20:30 UK time..!!!

a reply to: Zaphod58

Everyone's going for the obvious options, so I'm going to go with something crazy like "The NG Bird, built by Boeing at Long Beach", just for S's and G's.

But seriously, I fully expect there to be some major back-room reshuffling of the various contractors and their roles going into this announcement.

BoeLockMart has this one - especially given the purported problems encountered by the ThropMann bird. Fingers crossed for 5:15 EST!

a reply to: Barnalby

I'm fully expecting the losing team to supply either components or systems.

a reply to: Zaphod58

In previous teaming between Lockheed and Boeing, they called the combined organization "LoBo." I remember this particularly from the DarkStar program. They had a LOBO FLIGHT TEST insignia that was pretty funny.

a reply to: Zaphod58

That's my thinking too, just from reading the tea leaves about DOD fears over "consolidation"

It's either going to be a "Lockmart" win, where a Lockmart-designed airframe is built in pieces by Boeing and fitted out with Northrop-Grumman guts before final assembly at Palmdale where it gets slathered in Lockmart stealth coatings and rolled out of a hangar that says "Lockheed-Martin" and "Boeing".

OR

It's a "Norgrum" win, where a Norgrum-designed airframe is built in pieces by Boeing and Lockheed, fitted out with a mix of Lockmart and Norgrum guts, before final assembly at Long Beach, Wichita, or Florida, where it's slathered in Norgrum stealth coatings and rolled out of a hangar that says "Northrop-Grumman" and "Boeing" on it.

Then again, there's always that remotest of possibilities that they go the LCS route and order 50 of each, tailored to slightly different mission profiles (aka the Lockmart bird is a B-1/B-52 replacement, while the Norgrum bird is a B-2/B-52 replacement). There's a compelling argument to be made that they should have done that with past competitions (*cough*, accepting both the YF-22 and YF-23, and using the -22 to replace the -15 as an air dominance craft while using the -23 to replace the -111/-117 as a strike/ECM platform and eliminating the need for the USAF JSF, so that the JSF can now be a more modest naval-optimized export-oriented mild-stealth strike platform that can confidently replace the world's harriers, etendards, A-4s, and A-6s without ever having to defend its lack of A2A ability, *cough* *cough*)

originally posted by: spaceman42

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Markets close at 4 EST, press conference will probably be between 4:30 and 5. No firm time yet.

Will there be a livestream somewhere? Doubt it, but I can ask

Yes, you may certainly ask, and here is your answer:

10/27/2015 10:33 AM CDT

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

No. PA-099-15
October 27, 2015


Air Force to Announce Long Range Strike Bomber Contract Award

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, and Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Mark A. Welsh III will announce the long range strike bomber contract award at 5:15 p.m. EDT in the Pentagon Briefing Room (2E973).

Following their remarks, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition Dr. William LaPlante, Gen Robin Rand, commander, Air Force Global Strike Command and Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, Jr, military deputy, Air Force Acquisition will answer questions.

Journalists without a Pentagon building pass will be picked up at the River Entrance only. Plan to arrive no later than 30 minutes prior to the event: have proof of affiliation and two forms of photo identification. Please call 703-697-5131 for escort into the building. The press conference will be streamed live at www.defense.gov

Last sentence, is your answer

a reply to: weavty1

I'm cutting out of work early (don't tell my boss) to be home in time for this. How big of an Avnerd is that?

I like pictures.

Are we gonna get any pictures of this pretty bird, or just a blurb and some details about the contract?

I'd be cool if someone at the press conference just sketched something on a cocktail napkin. I'm really easy to please...

"So it's kinda looks like this *scribbling* ... not quite that, but more like *scribbles more* THAT. With less of this...*scribbling* and more of that..."

originally posted by: weavty1
Last sentence, is your answer

You are the hero of the day sir!

a reply to: Barnalby

They are building that giant hangar in florida.

You might be onto something.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I'm hoping for a rendering at least but wouldn't be surprised if we got nothing at all to look at.

The Pentagon does knows that pretty pictures sell and get the media (as well as the Avnerds here) to drool, so it would be in their best interests to throw us at least a little bone.