The much ballyhooed attempt by the US Air Force to provide Afghanistan with a light attack aircraft recently hit another roadblock.

Prior to December, there were two contractors vying for the award — Hawker Beechcraft’s AT-6 and Embraer’s Super Tucano. In December, the Air Force removed Hawker from the competition and awarded the contract to the sole remaining bidder.

Hawker protested, and then sued.  The Air Force has now cancelled the contract, which the media have called an “embarrassment” and about which General Norton Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff, said “our institutional reputation is at stake.”

Part of the “reputation” issue is the Air Force’s muddled history of acquisitions contracts, from the on-again, off-again new aerial refueling tanker to the 20-year spin up of the F-22.