The USAF is planning to start buying 15-20 new tankers in 2007 according to this plan.
Pentagon may buy 15-20 aerial tankers a year
By Jim Wolf
REUTERS
1:47 p.m. May 9, 2006
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Defense Department tentatively plans to buy 15 to 20 aerial refueling tankers a year over two decades, possibly from more than one manufacturer, the Pentagon's top acquisition official said Tuesday.
The comments by Kenneth Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, suggest the likely scope of a high-profile competition expected to pit Boeing Co. against a team made up of Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS, 80 percent owner of European jetmaker Airbus.
“I think the program concept that's sort of evolving is something around 15 to 20 of them a year,” Krieg said in an interview with Reuters.
Last month, the Pentagon launched the contest with a request for information from companies that want to build the next-generation tanker, which could be derived from the Boeing 767, the Airbus A-330 or another medium to heavy airliner.
Chicago-based Boeing lost a $23.5 billion U.S. Air Force tanker deal in 2004 amid a procurement scandal that sent an ex-Air Force weapons buyer and Boeing's chief financial officer to federal prison for conflict-of-interest law violations.
The abortive deal with Boeing was to have involved the lease then purchase of an initial batch of 100 tankers, which are used to refuel other aircraft in mid-air.
“So, if you're going to replace 400 to 500 (aging U.S. KC-135 tankers), and you're going to do it on the scale of something like 15 to 20 a year, it's going to take 20 years or so to replace them,” Krieg said.
Asked whether he might favor buying from two manufacturers rather than a winner-take-all approach, Krieg said: “It gives you management options when you have a mixed fleet of size.”
“And we saw that corresponding benefit when you looked at it in the AOA,” or the analysis of alternatives carried out to determine the best approach to a full-fledged competition.
The Air Force has said it expects to award a contract in the summer of 2007. Some estimates have put the potential market as high as $100 billion over coming decades.
Krieg said he did not immediately have an estimate of the contact value in mind, nor a date for the first purchases
Pentagon may buy 15-20 aerial tankers a year
By Jim Wolf
REUTERS
1:47 p.m. May 9, 2006
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Defense Department tentatively plans to buy 15 to 20 aerial refueling tankers a year over two decades, possibly from more than one manufacturer, the Pentagon's top acquisition official said Tuesday.
The comments by Kenneth Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, suggest the likely scope of a high-profile competition expected to pit Boeing Co. against a team made up of Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS, 80 percent owner of European jetmaker Airbus.
“I think the program concept that's sort of evolving is something around 15 to 20 of them a year,” Krieg said in an interview with Reuters.
Last month, the Pentagon launched the contest with a request for information from companies that want to build the next-generation tanker, which could be derived from the Boeing 767, the Airbus A-330 or another medium to heavy airliner.
Chicago-based Boeing lost a $23.5 billion U.S. Air Force tanker deal in 2004 amid a procurement scandal that sent an ex-Air Force weapons buyer and Boeing's chief financial officer to federal prison for conflict-of-interest law violations.
The abortive deal with Boeing was to have involved the lease then purchase of an initial batch of 100 tankers, which are used to refuel other aircraft in mid-air.
“So, if you're going to replace 400 to 500 (aging U.S. KC-135 tankers), and you're going to do it on the scale of something like 15 to 20 a year, it's going to take 20 years or so to replace them,” Krieg said.
Asked whether he might favor buying from two manufacturers rather than a winner-take-all approach, Krieg said: “It gives you management options when you have a mixed fleet of size.”
“And we saw that corresponding benefit when you looked at it in the AOA,” or the analysis of alternatives carried out to determine the best approach to a full-fledged competition.
The Air Force has said it expects to award a contract in the summer of 2007. Some estimates have put the potential market as high as $100 billion over coming decades.
Krieg said he did not immediately have an estimate of the contact value in mind, nor a date for the first purchases
