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WASHINGTON (Reuters): The U.S. Air Force on Monday said it would stick to plans to pick a winning bidder next summer in a multibillion-dollar competition for new aerial refueling tankers.
The service plans to issue a final request for proposals in the high-stakes competition in December, said spokeswoman Maj. Morshe Araujo.
The new competition, valued at upward of $100 billion over 30 to 40 years, pits Boeing Co against a team of Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS, the majority owner of Airbus and Europe's largest defense contractor.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne recently rejected a proposal supported by some Pentagon officials that would have delayed the contract award by two years, said defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute.
The delay could have saved money in the short term, but Air Force officials opposed it because they were concerned the aging existing tankers could wind up being grounded before replacements were available, said Thompson, who has close ties to Pentagon and Air Force officials.
“The service's uniformed leadership is convinced it is dangerous to delay modernization any longer,” Thompson said.
Araujo had no comment on Thompson's statements about a proposed delay.
Military operations require in-flight refueling to reach remote places such as Afghanistan, he said.
Air Force officials recently identified replacing tankers as one of their biggest acquisition priorities, given the growing importance of mid-air refueling of fighter jets and other aircraft, as well as the advanced age of its current fleet of KC-135 tankers, which are now about 45 years old.
Over time, the Air Force plans to buy more than 600 new planes to transport passengers and cargo, and for medical evacuations, communications and surveillance.
The Air Force is scheduled to hold a key meeting on the tanker program this week, as is the Pentagon's Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC).
Thompson said the stakes were high for both industry teams, since the tanker replacement program could keep Boeing's 767 and Airbus A330 in production for another 30 years.
