After 548 days, the U.S. Forest Service is going to issue exclusive use five-year contracts for three next-generation air tankers, in spite of the protest filed by Neptune Aviation, a company that was passed over in the contract awards. Three companies were notified Thursday by USFS contracting officers that the contracts are being actually awarded — Minden, 10 Tanker Air Carrier, and Coulson.
More details are at Fire Aviation.