Sen. McCain faults delays in Boeing’s KC-46 tanker program

  • By Dan Catchpole Herald Writer
  • Sunday, September 6, 2015 8:45pm
  • Business

EVERETT — In an open letter last month, Sen. John McCain took the Defense Department to task for delays in Boeing’s KC-46 aerial refueling tanker development program.

Boeing won the bid to design the replacement for the Air Force’s aging primary tanker with a fast-paced schedule. It promised it would stay on track, thanks in part to its experience building military tankers.

However, because of supplier and design problems, flight and ground tests for the plane, which is assembled in Everett, are nine months behind schedule.

Those delays put the “program at risk of not meeting” its delivery deadline, McCain said in the letter, which he sent Aug. 28 to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

Because of the delays, the Air Force has pushed back its decision on whether to start low-rate production until the second half of 2016, McCain said.

That decision originally was scheduled for this month.

That could prevent delivery of “this critical capability to our warfighters as promised and on schedule,” McCain said.

Boeing has to deliver the first 18 combat-ready planes by August 2017.

The Defense Department wants 179 KC-46A Pegasus tankers by 2027. It is the first of a three-stage plan to overhaul the country’s aging fleet of aerial refueling tankers.

The longtime Republican senator from Arizona is an influential member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. He has a history of taking the Pentagon — and particularly the Air Force — to task over weapons development programs costs and schedules.

McCain’s most recent criticism, though, left some aerospace analysts scratching their heads.

“I would hope that John McCain would have a better grasp of this issue than he does,” said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst and vice president with the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia.

After all, the Air Force had a plan more than a decade ago to lease 100 tankers from Boeing, but McCain helped blocked that proposal. That prompted a messy and drawn-out bidding process that Boeing won in the end, he said. “In the context of a dozen years delay, what’s a few more months?”

In the bid competition, McCain had backed the entry from Boeing’s rival, the Europe-based Airbus Group, which was then known as EADS.

Boeing has already begun initial production in order to deliver those first 18 planes on time.

McCain and Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, also sent a letter to the defense secretary criticizing the Air Force’s financial planning on the Long Range Strike Bomber program.

The letter demanded explanation for how the Air Force miscalculated 10-year cost estimates for the Long Range Strike Bomber program, which jumped from $33.1 billion for 2015 to 2024 to $58.4 billion for 2016 to 2025. Boeing and Lockheed Martin have teamed together to compete against Northrop Grumman for the contract.

The Air Force is expected to award the contract sometime this month.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.