The Air Force on Tuesday reopened the long-delayed process of replacing its fleet of aerial refueling tankers.
The Boeing Co. is expected to once again offer KC-767 tankers, the Everett-built jets it almost succeeded in selling to the Air Force before the deal was scuttled by a Pentagon purchasing scandal.
But a company spokesman said that Boeing will provide whatever kind of jet the Air Force wants.
“We’re not going to push a platform on the Air Force,” said Bill Barksdale, a spokesman for Boeing’s St. Louis-based military aircraft division. “There’s just no way we’ll pick a solution without them having a say in it.”
The Air Force on Tuesday issued a formal request for information to the Boeing Co. and its competition, the joint venture formed by Airbus parent company EADS and U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman.
It’s the key first step in the process of awarding a Pentagon contract for the tankers, said aerospace analyst Scott Hamilton. “They’ve finally gotten off of the dime.”
A contract for the first batch of planes, expected to be worth at least $20 billion, could be awarded as soon as next year.
Congress and the Pentagon have been debating the possible replacement of the Air Force’s fleet of more than 400 KC-135 tankers since 2001. The KC-135s date back to the early 1960s, and advocates say they must be replaced soon if the United States is going to continue to be able to deploy its military aircraft overseas.
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said he was encouraged that the Air Force was finally moving forward with the tanker program, which has been on hold for two years.
Northrop Grumman released a statement saying it was pleased the Air Force was moving forward with the tanker program.
“We are in the process of analyzing (the Air Force request) in depth and welcome the opportunity to provide a response,” the statement said.
The EADS-Northrop Grumman team is expected to offer tankers based on the Airbus A330, which would be converted at a new factory in Mobile, Ala.
Boeing has developed a KC-767 tanker that it has sold to the Italian and Japanese air forces, but Hamilton noted that in recent months the Air Force has “telegraphed its punches” and is now “feeling the 767 isn’t the mission-capable aircraft Boeing has led us to believe.”
That’s led to speculation that Boeing will instead offer a tanker based on its newer, larger 777 jetliner.
Boeing will decide what to offer after meeting with Air Force officials to determine just what they need, Barksdale said.
“Some people assume we have to pick one from the past,” he said. “We haven’t picked anything.”
There were some surprises in the information request, Hamilton said. For starters, the Air Force is asking for responses within 45 days, which is unusually fast. The document also suggests that the Air Force will consider airplanes as large as Boeing’s 747 – even though an earlier Rand Corp. study ruled out planes that big.
The information requests also says that suppliers must provide information on “business arrangements that involve a financial contribution from government, including … subsidies.”
Boeing and the U.S. government claim Airbus received improper subsidies from the European Union to develop the A330 and other jets, and has filed suit before the World Trade Organization.
The EU retaliated with a suit claiming Boeing has received improper Pentagon research subsidies.
Dicks said he was especially pleased that the Air Force “has addressed the question I have been asking: If Airbus is intending to compete for Pentagon business, how does the Defense Department account for the unfair subsidies the European governments have given the consortium?”
Airbus has received billions in subsidies from European governments over the years, Dicks said, adding that Pentagon “must necessarily account for the advantage that these illegal subsidies have given the company, especially because they have come at the cost of U.S. jobs.”
But Hamilton noted that the issue is double-edged. Depending on the outcome of the WTO suit, “the EU could impose penalties on Boeing,” he said. “This isn’t just an anti-Airbus statement.”
Boeing thinks “everybody should play by the same set of rules,” Barksdale said, in an apparent reference to the subsidy issue.
“Our forces deserve the best tankers America can produce,” he said. “Boeing’s got a history of engineering, building – not just assembling – the best tankers for America.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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