Another view on tankers

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, March 2, 2006

Loren Thompson at the Lexington Institute has been following the ins and outs of the Boeing tanker deal from inside the Beltway, and he has a different take on this week’s 10K revelation by the company of its “diminished” prospects for a 767 order.

“It does not signal that Boeing is backing away from the 767 as its preferred tanker design,” he said.

“Boeing still intends to offer a military version of the 767,” Thompson said (in a voice mail message left on my phone … that’s what I get for going to lunch, eh?). But the timing of the deal and the likely accounting for it have changed dramatically since it was first proposed in 2002. As a result, he said, the 10K statement is most likely an accounting move, “recognizing the changes and altering the financial assumptions,” with the aim of gaining a tax benefit.

Thompson said the 767 and 777 are the only options for Boeing to offer on tankers, and the 777 isn’t necessarily the better of the two. “It is so large compared to what the Air Force is currently operating.”

Interesting ideas. In any case, the game of phone tag is on. (I called him Thursday; he called back today; I’ll try him again.) I’ll keep you posted.