USAF will place tanker program 'on pause' without new R&D dollars

Posted on: Aug. 22nd, 2006 || Source: aimpoints.hq.af.mil | E-mail Article | Print Article

USAF will place tanker program 'on pause' without new R&D dollars

The Air Force will be forced again to delay awarding a contract for its multibillion-dollar KC-135 tanker replacement effort if Congress opts against pouring at least $70 million into the program’s research and development coffers next fiscal session, service officials tell Inside the Air Force.

“If lawmakers expressly zero out the funds in [fiscal year 2007] and do not include congressional language allowing the program to proceed, the KC-X program will once again be placed on pause,” service officials stated last week in written responses to questions posed by ITAF.

House-passed versions of FY-07 defense appropriations and authorization legislation would give the service enough tanker R&D funds to award a contract in August 2007. The Senate’s versions of those bills, however, would delay the award date, according to the air service.

In its FY-07 budget request, the service asked for $203.9 million for tanker-related R&D work.

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