Air Force Tanker Delay Hurts Our Military

Press Release

Last week, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told House Armed Services Committee members that the Pentagon will delay a new competition to build the much-needed Air Force KC-X air refueling tanker until after the next presidential administration takes office. This decision will not serve the best interests of our military which are forced to continue to rely upon half a century old refueling aircraft.

To call Secretary Gates' decision disappointing would be an understatement. It gives the appearance of passing the buck at a critical time of need. Our men and women in uniform deserve better. The nation's fleet of 500 air tankers is working overtime to support our military's air operations world-wide, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their mission is vital and yet our military is limited to air tankers with an average age of 50 years.

The process to select a new Air Force air tanker has been underway for five years without a successful conclusion. The competition to build the next generation air tanker, known generically as the "KC-X," was thought to have been settled in late February when the Air Force selected Northrop Grumman-EADS for the job. Boeing, the losing bidder, challenged the merits of the award and in June an independent government review found the Air Force made mistakes in the contracting process. In July, the Defense Department decided to redo the air tanker competition. However, the competition was further delayed after Boeing sought more time to reconfigure its aircraft design. Last week, Secretary Gates decided to scuttle the air tanker competition until after the new year.

It must be pointed out that Alabama has a very large stake in the final outcome of the new Air Force tanker contract. If Northrop Grumman-EADS secures the new contract, the company would assemble their "KC-30" air tanker in Mobile. Some 2,000 jobs would come to the port city with another 25,000 jobs to be tied to the project through 240 suppliers in 49 states, including Alabama.

The original competition between Northrop Grumman-EADS and Boeing centered on two very different aircraft. Boeing sought to use its older and smaller 767 airframe which is being phased out of commercial production. Northrop-Grumman, however, offered a new technology design based on its Airbus A330 wide body jet. While the Boeing "KC-767AT" tanker has yet to be produced, Northrop-Grumman's tanker aircraft is already in production elsewhere, serving the militaries of Australia and the United Kingdom.

Regardless of which aircraft manufacturer is ultimately selected, delaying the competition for a new Air Force tanker only jeopardizes the safety of our military and places our war-fighting ability at risk. It is unfortunate that the Defense Department has chosen to extend the timetable for the eventual production of a replacement air tanker.

Once the aircraft is finally on the assembly line, at a production rate of 14 a year our military will be flying tanker aircraft that are over 70 years old before the entire fleet is replaced. This serves no one's best interest.

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