Sierra Nevada Corp. is still aiming for the April 2013 delivery date for the first aircraft called for under the Air Force’s Light Air Support contract despite being held up by a pending lawsuit, according to a company vice president.
“We know of no change to the delivery schedule at this time (and) we are still aiming for April 2013,” Air Force retired Brig. Gen. Taco Gilbert, vice president of ISR business development at Sierra Nevada, told Defense Daily in a phone interview Wednesday. “We do that not knowing when we’ll have the stop work order lifted.”
Sierra Nevada said Wednesday in a statement it was exploring ways to mitigate delays in meeting the April 2013 delivery schedule due to a pending lawsuit filed by Hawker Beechcraft Corp. Sierra Nevada was awarded the contract in late December, but due to a Jan. 4 stop-work order issued by the Air Force, it has been prevented from initiating work.
Gilbert said the last of the court filings are due in about a month.
“As of yesterday, the last of the court filings are due on the 13th of March,” Gilbert said. “At that point Judge (George W.) Miller will have to decide the case, all we can hope for is an expeditious decision.”
According to the statement, the lawsuit filed by Hawker Beechcraft challenges its elimination from the LAS competition. The Air Force notified the company in November that its proposal was not in the “competitive range” and that it had been disqualified from competition. The service based its determination on the finding that “multiple deficiencies and significant weaknesses found in (Hawker Beechcraft’s) proposal make it technically unacceptable and results in unacceptable mission capability risk,” according to the statement.
Sierra Nevada plans on providing the Embraer A-29 Super Tucano, a turbo prop aircraft that will be used in Afghanistan to conduct advanced flight training, aerial reconnaissance and light air support operations, according to the statement.