Pentagon Officials Give Green Light to New KC-X Tanker Program

Posted on: Apr. 24th, 2006 || Source: aviationweek.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

The U.S. Air Force's replacement tanker program has languished for two years while enduring a blizzard of analyses, but KC-X is finally being launched with a contract award expected in mid-2007.

The program will contain a few surprises. The contract award date already involves a slide of about three months--from spring 2007 to summer--beyond earlier projections. In addition, the initial request for information (RFI) will ask for input from service providers as well as prime contractors. The former are companies that would supply (on a pay-by-the-hour basis) tankers and crews for training, test and other missions conducted in the U.S. That would free Air Force aircraft and crews for overseas deployments and could reduce the number of tankers the military would need to buy. The RFI is expected to be released during this week's Aerial Refueling Systems Advisory Group conference in San Diego.

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