The Air Force, as promised, released its second draft request for proposal (RFP) for its UH-1N replacement program on April 20.

Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Emily Grabowski said in statement that the service remained committed to having its final RFP out this summer and a contract award in fiscal year 2018. The service still plans to deliver its first operational helicopter in fiscal year 2020-2021.

Grabowski said the second draft RFP implements the amended acquisition strategy allowing interested offerors to conduct non-developmental integration (NDI) on their baseline aircraft in order to meet requirements. The second draft RFP, she said, also includes source selection criteria for a tradeoff evaluation. The Air Force will evaluate the technical capability/risk of the offeror’s approach and evaluate the price of the proposals to arrive at a best value decision.

Europe’s Airbus seems to be leaning toward not bidding for the UH-1N replacement. Company spokesman James Darcy said April 20 though the company is currently completing a thorough evaluation of the latest draft RFP, it is “hard to imagine,” based on the previous draft RFP, that there is a competitive business case under which Airbus would bid.

Darcy said Airbus continues to advocate for a two aircraft solution, but the Air Force, he said, seems predisposed not only to a single-aircraft solution but to a solution that closely resembles a UH-60, the incumbent aircraft developed by Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] Sikorsky unit. Darcy said Airbus, for years, has advocated its two aircraft solution of the service breaking up its requirement for intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) security and VIP transportation in the Washington region.

ICBM security, he said, is much more expensive than VIP transportation and a two-aircraft solution would allow the Air Force to offset the much more expensive ICBM security mission with the less robust VIP transportation mission.

Lexington Institute think tank Chief Operating Officer Loren Thompson said April 20 that it is amazing how long the Air Force has taken to recapitalize its tired fleet of Vietnam era UH-1N helicopters. He called both UH-1N missions strategic: protection of missile fields and continuity of government in a national emergency.

Potential bidders for the UH-1N replacement include Boeing [BA], Sikorsky, and Bell Helicopter Textron [TXT]. Boeing announced in March it would team with Italy’s Leonardo to offer the MH-139, a variant based on Leonardo’s AW139 multi-mission helicopter. Boeing will serve as prime with Leonardo serving as subcontractor.

Sikorsky will offerthe HH-60U Black Hawk. The company said in March three HH-60Us were already in Air Force inventory. Air Force pilots and special mission aviators began flying the HH-60U in 2011.

Bell Helicopter Textron in early March was mulling over whether to bid for the UH-1N replacement. The company didn’t respond to a request for comment April 20. The company has the UH-1Y “Venom,” AH-1Z “Viper” and the Bell 407, 429 and 505 Jet Ranger X commercial helicopters currently in development. The Bell 525 Relentless helicopter is currently still in development, but the company is building flight test vehicles.

Thompson said if the Air Force runs the UH-1N replacement as a lowest price competition, as he said it seems to do, it will be sorry with the results. He said every competition the Air Force seems to run, from a new bomber, new tanker or new trainer, lowest price seems to be the sole criterion for judging who should win. Thompson said if the Air Force continues this trend, he believes the Boeing-Leonardo MH-139 offering would be the lowest price offering, but not necessarily the best.

The Air Force did not return requests for comment April 20. The service is looking to procure 84 aircraft. The final contract award could be in the area of $800 to $900 million.

Airbus and majority Romania’s IAR Brasov signed an agreement for exclusive cooperation on Romanian H215M multi-role helicopters, Airbus said April 13.

Under the general agreement, IAR will become the prime contractor for any Airbus-produced H215M helicopters that the Romania Minister of Defense may order to replace their maturing fleet.

Airbus inaugurated its Airbus Helicopters Industries factory in Brasov, Romania in 2016. The facility is set to house production of the H215 in Romania.

Neculai Banea, general director of IAR highlighted the agreement comes after decades of cooperation between the companies.

“IAR has built around 360 helicopters under license thanks to this successful partnership with Airbus Helicopters and we are looking forward to customizing and supporting the H215M,” he said in a statement.

“We are convinced that this relationship will last another 50 years and that the H215M will correspond perfectly to the needs of the Romanian armies” Olivier Michalon, Airbus Helicopter’s senior vice president and head of Europe region, added.

IAR Brasov is a majority state-owned Romania company that focuses on aeronautics and particularly helicopter manufacturing and maintenance.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is beginning to upgrade its AH-64D Apache fleet with new electronic warfare and communications systems, the Singapore Ministry of Defence said April 20.

The upgrade program includes equipping the Apaches with a Helicopter Integrated Electronic Warfare System (HIEWS) for enhanced survivability and satellite communications (SATCOM) for improved communications.

Singapore “has always taken a rigorous and prudent approach in planning for our defence needs and will equip sufficient helicopters to meet Singapore’s defence requirements,” the ministry said in a statement.

The upgrades are expected to be finished within five years.

Investigators concluded that pilot error caused an Air Force MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aircraft to crash at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan in 2016, the service announced April 13.

According to Air Combat Command, the Reaper, built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., was returning from a combat support mission on Feb. 20, 2016; and went down while conducting a simulated engine flame-out training approach.

An accident investigation board found that “the pilot set the power below the recommended power setting for simulated flame-out practice approaches, and failed to maintain altitude and approach path awareness,” the command said in a statement. “This led to a steeper descent path and low energy state from which the pilot was unable to recover, and the aircraft impacted the ground short of the runway.”

The Reaper was destroyed in the crash, resulting in a government-property loss valued at $12.3 million. No one was injured in the accident.

The Air Force has not yet determined whether the pilot, who was assigned to the 62nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron, will be disciplined.

“The report cites overconfidence and excessive reliance on previous experience as substantially contributing to the mishap,” said Lt. Carrie Volpe, a command spokeswoman. “Now that the report is concluded, the appropriate commanders must determine if any actions or inactions warrant disciplinary action based on the evidence.”

The Navy announced the week of April 10 that it has completed key tests of two unmanned aerial vehicles: the new MQ-8C Fire Scout helicopter and the future MQ-25 Stingray aerial refueler.

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) said April 11 that the MQ-8C finished its first test period aboard a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the USS Montgomery (LCS-8). The tests, including a first flight on the Montgomery on April 5, occurred off the coast of California and helped verify that the MQ-8C can operate safely aboard an LCS, NAVAIR said.

The Navy has said that testing will resume aboard the Montgomery, an Independence-class variant, in the fall and will also occur on the USS Little Rock (LCS-9), a Freedom-class variant, on the East Coast in the fall.

The MQ-8C, a larger, longer-endurance variant of the Northrop Grumman [NOC] MQ-8B unmanned surveillance helicopter, is slated to achieve an initial operational capability in the summer of 2018 and be deployed aboard LCS.

Separately, NAVAIR said the MQ-25 program has completed a demonstration that showed how an aircraft carrier will control the carrier-based UAV. During the April 11 test, which occurred at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, the first build of the MD-5 Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System commanded and sent data to a Mobile Aviation Interoperability Lab truck, which was simulating a UAV.

The Navy plans to release a draft request for proposals for the MQ-25 air segment this spring. A final RFP will follow this summer, and a development contract will be awarded to one company in 2018.

Four firms – Boeing [BA], General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Northrop Grumman – received one-year contracts last fall to refine concepts for the MQ-25 drone.