Air Force delays contract announcement until Friday
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Air Force's often-delayed announcement of which defense contractor will be awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to provide new aerial refueling tankers has been postponed until 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 29, a defense industry analyst said.
Sue Payton, the top civilian official in the Air Force's acquisition program, decided to delay the announcement to allow time to ensure that everything is in order, said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. The decision was made after a meeting by Air Force acquisition officials on Wednesday, Feb. 27, said Thompson, who is in frequent contact with Pentagon officials.
Extras
Maj. David Small, a spokesman at the Air Force's Pentagon press office, said Thursday that he had no information on the scheduling of an announcement.
Thompson and defense contractor leaders had been hoping for the announcement earlier this week.
The Air Force has chosen the late-day timing to release the information after the stock market closes. Analysts project that the hotly contested contract for 179 tankers, to be bought during a 15-year period, will be worth $30 billion to $40 billion.
The government plans to eventually award other contracts for more of the tankers. The Air Force plans to eventually replace all of its approximately 600 current KC-135 refueling tankers, which average nearly 50 years old.
The Air Force has been proceeding cautiously because of prior problems with the acquisition process, and is hoping to avoid a protest by the losing contractor team that could delay implementation of the tankers contract for months.
Thompson said his understanding was that the contractor selection had actually been made last week during a meeting at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Defense Acquisition Board, which evaluates the selection process for major military acquisitions and approves funding plans for them, met on Monday this week to review the selection and prepare the paperwork, Thompson said.
The contenders are Boeing Co., provider of the Air Force's existing, decades-old KC-135 aerial tankers, and a team led by rival Northrop Grumman. Northrop's team includes the European Aeronautic, Defense and Space, parent of the French aircraft manufacturer Airbus, and subcontractors General Electric, which would provide the engines for the new KC-X tanker, and Honeywell International Inc.
The flying tankers make it possible for Air Force fighters and bombers to refuel in flight and more quickly reach destinations around the world.
After the contractor is selected, the KC-X program will be managed by the 653rd Aeronautical Systems Squadron, part of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson.
The Air Force has been under scrutiny because of a prior scandal. It had previously decided to lease the tankers from Boeing, but that plan collapsed as a senior Air Force official and a high-level Boeing executive were convicted of illegal activities in connection with the deal. They were sent to prison in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
About the tankers
The new refueling tankers are likely to cost between $200 million and $250 million apiece, depending on how many are produced.
Boeing would make its version, the KC-767 tanker, at Everett, Wash. The Northrop Grumman-led group would build its KC-30 tankers in Mobile, Ala.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
