Boeing Has Clear Sailing On KC-X

Northrop Grumman (NOC) is not going to partner with EADS for the KC-X aerial tanker program. There is no word yet if EADS will try to find another partner or go it alone against Boeing (BA) for the contract.

Boeing's bid for what it is calling the "NewGen" tanker is based on adapting the Boeing 767 air liner. One big difference is the inclusion of cockpit technology from the forthcoming advanced 787 model. Another is an advanced fly-by-wire refueling boom. These changes will help provide better crew management and increase fuel rates. A Pratt & Whitney-based engine, the PW4062, is a variant of an engine that powers several hundred commercial aircraft, including some Airbus products.

In 2008, Boeing proposed a version that required fuselage parts and designs from different versions of the 767. This concept was different from the 767 tanker it was building for Japan and Italy, which might have been a good thing. The Japanese contract suffered delays of more than two years. Japan now has three of the four purchased; it will take Boeing seven years to complete deliveries. The Italian ones are not yet delivered and may be considered five years late.

There are those who would like EADS to bid--for example, the governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour. If EADS won, the aircraft would be assembled in Mobile, AL.

For the Air Force, it is surely in their best interest to have more then one bid. The political consequences of doing a sole-source award are dicey, with plenty of opportunities for Congress and outside groups to make it hard to keep the program on schedule. They can demand investigations and ask questions about Boeing's cost and schedule estimates and how the Air Force decided that this was the best value for the taxpayer. The contract was approved as a competition and the justification for a sole-source award is much longer and more difficult. As for Boeing, it better have its numbers correct, and its production plans squared away, to stay on schedule and cost. If not, this could blow up like the last two attempts to buy this new, key aircraft.