Air Force to kick off tanker contest Thursday — report

Published 3:55 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The contest between the Boeing Co. and duo Northrop Grumman and EADS for an Air Force tanker contract is expected to begin again this week.

Boeing supporters on Capital Hill said Tuesday that they expect the Air Force to release its draft request for proposals to the competitors on Thursday, reports Reuters.

This will mark the Air Force’s third attempt to replace its KC-135 aerial refueling tanker fleet. The Air Force competition is worth about $35 billion to whichever contractor wins.

Boeing has been working on two offerings, tankers based off the Everett-built 767 and 777 jets.

Northrop and EADS will offer their KC-30, created from Airbus’ A330. The pair initially was awarded the contract in February 2008. But Boeing’s protest of the award eventually led the Air Force to call off the competition.