Quote:Unfortunately RFIs are a dime for several dozen. Means very little. I know, we answered lots of them over the years :-). Oftentimes it was in response by a legitimate need that the military bureaucracy had no intention of actually satisfying. They needed to "do something", and the RFI was it. Then everybody forgets all about it. Of course, we do need such a development, but we need it now, not 24 months from now.
My understanding is that an "RFP" was what was just released, the RFI was from a few months ago, 16 companies apparently replied with proposals. Speculation is that the existing PJDAM prototype from Boeing may fit the parameters, so perhaps could move quickly.
Hopefully an updated guidance package to evade Russian jamming will be incorporated if the PJDAM is chosen. The Storm Shadows and SCALPs certainly have seemed accurate in their limited usage, not sure how feasible it would be to adapt some of their features such as the IR camera for terminal guidance.
The GLSDB initiative took about a year and was only somewhat effective when it happened, hopefully this turns out better and as quick as possible.