What Happened in the KC-X Tanker Saga

I have blogged before about the long drawn-out saga of KC-X, the USAF program [sic] to replace the ageing fleet of KC-135 aerial refuelling tankers (see USAF selects Boeing for KC-X contract and Aussies Steal a March on the USAF ). 

Now the evergreen and delightful Popular Mechanics provides a chronology of the tortured process U.S. Air Force Tanker - Boeing Governent Contract - Popular Mechanics

Well worth reading to find out how not to do it, how Boeing eventually won and how one person can be a national hero or a right pain in the butt depending on where you stand.

USAF selects Boeing for KC-X contract

Flight International posts the result: [UPDATED]: USAF selects Boeing for KC-X contract

Those of you with good memories will recall that in my post Aussies Steal a March on the USAF I bemoaned the fact that the USAF couldn’t seem to make up its mind on who should get the KC-X contract.

Well now it has and, surprise surprise, its Boeing with a modified B767 to enter service as the KC-46A, mostly because it was cheaper than the EADS A330 offering and has a lower T/O weight (see the main article for details).

The contract is worth $USD 35 billion and General Norton Schwartz the USAF Chief of Staff says “I’m pleased at how this produced an outcome … that we will get about delivering a capability that’s long overdue and we’ll stop talking about it.”

Meanwhile the RAAF is expecting delivery of its first Airbus A330 MRTT very soon.

Aussies Steal a March on the USAF

While the USAF,Office of Procurement and vested aerospace interests continue to squabble over the specification and contract for the KC-X, the replacement tanker for the venerable KC-135, the RAAF is set to take delivery of its first A330MRTT tanker/transport, based on the Airbus A330, in the next few weeks. This aircraft is also on order for the RAF and will probably become the standard Western “full fat” tanker in the years to come.
The importance of the KC-X programme for the US’s global reach cannot be overestimated and is possibly the single most important USAF programme for a generation.  So it is perplexing that the Yanks can’t get their act together.  I am a great admirer of US kit and ways of doing things but sometimes they border on the pathetic.