The Pentagon has given the U.S. Air Force authorization to restart its search for new aerial refueling tankers, two news services reported on Friday.
That is seen as a first step toward starting a bidding campaign between the Boeing Co. and a joint venture involving Airbus’ parent company to provide the tankers, the Dow Jones and Reuters agencies said.
A Boeing spokesman said the company had no comment, but he noted that the Air Force has yet to issue a formal request for information for the tanker contract, which would be the formal start of the Pentagon purchasing process.
Boeing is expected to offer tankers based on its Everett-built 767 to the Air Force, in competition with tankers based on the Airbus A330, which will be offered by Airbus parent company EADS and its partner, U.S. defense contractor Northrop Gruman.
An earlier Boeing deal to provide 100 KC-767s to the Air Force was scrapped after a Pentagon purchasing scandal.
In January, a Rand Corp. study recommended that the Air Force begin replacing its fleet of 40-year-old KC-135 tankers. It suggested that a number of airliners could be converted to tankers, including Boeing 767s and 777s, and Airbus A330s and A340s.
However, an analyst who has been closely following the tanker issue, Lexington Institute’s Loren Thompson, said the Air Force is focused on either 767s or A330s.
EADS and Northrop Gruman have plans to build a factory in Mobile, Ala., to modify the Airbus jets if they win a tanker contract.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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