The Boeing Co. has delivered the first KC-767 to Japan as the company awaits a decision from the U.S. Air Force on a coveted tanker contract.
“This delivery also confirms Boeing’s standing as the world’s leading provider of aerial refueling tankers and continues our company’s proud 75-year history of producing tankers,” said Jim Albaugh, president of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, in a press statement.
Boeing delivered the first of four KC-767s to Itochu Corp., for Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force. The company is more than a year late in delivering the tanker, after suffering technical and certification setbacks. Boeing is ready to hand over the second tanker as soon as Japan gives official approval of the first.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration gave the final OK on the tanker. It was an approval that Japan had been waiting for before it would take delivery of the KC-767.
The delivery comes possibly days before the U.S. Air Force announces the winner of a $40 billion contract to replace 179 of its aging KC-135 tankers. Boeing is competing against Northrop Grumman-EADS for the deal.
The Chicago-based Boeing has offered its KC-767s, although a slightly different version than the one it is building for Japan. The company would build the tankers in Everett with workers in Wichita, Kan., completing the military applications.
Northrop-EADS has pitched its KC-30 tanker, modeled after Airbus’s A330 commercial jet. The duo will build its tanker in Mobile, Ala.
The Air Force could announce a winner by the end of February.
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