Anticipating the Air Force Tanker Award Tomorrow
By
Bob Brewin
The latest episode in one of the longest-running games in town, the almost decade-long effort by the Air Force to replace its aging aerial refueling fleet, may soon come to an end with the award of a $35 billion contract for 179 aircraft.
Media outlets in Washington state and Alabama, where Boeing and rival EADS North America respectively plan to build their version of the tanker, forecast an award tomorrow.
The website of the Everett, Wash., Daily Herald reported that Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., expects the Air Force to announce the deal tomorrow. Boeing has based its version of the tanker on the 767 wide-body airliner built in Everett.
WKRG in Mobile, Ala., reported an unnamed Pentagon official confirmed the contract would be awarded tomorrow. EADS plans to build its version of the tanker, based on the wide-body A330 in Mobile.
EADS, in partnership with Northrop Grumman, won the last round of this battle in February 2008, but Boeing lodged a successful protest.
The tanker saga started in 2002 when the Air Force initially planned to lease 767 tankers from Boeing and then in 2003 changed it to a lease/buy contract. That deal was overturned as a result of investigations by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
To date the only folks who have made any money on the tanker deal are lawyers. It looks like they will continue to rake in the cash as another protest seems inevitable.