Hopes High That This Try Is The End Of The KC-X Contest

February 25, 2010 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Alabama, Boeing, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Syndicated Industry News, Washington 

Over at BNET: Government where I also publish I have a piece on how this third try will be the winning one for the Air Force and Defense Department to get a new aircraft to replace the aging KC-135 fleet. There still remain many challenges with the contest as Northrop may not bid and Boeing has expressed concerns with the fixed price portion of the contract.

It will be an interesting next few months as this is all worked out. Next deadline is May 10th when proposals are due.

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Two Tanker Buy Pushed Again

January 29, 2010 by Matthew Potter · 1 Comment
Filed under: Alabama, Boeing, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Syndicated Industry News 

The Mayor of Mobile, AL was recently on Capitol Hill raising the issue of buying the new KC-X tanker from both Boeing (BA) and Northrop Grumman (NOC). Northrop and its partner EADS (EADS:P) plan to assemble the A330 aircraft in Mobile and then fit them out with the necessary equipment at a Northrop plant. The idea of awarding contracts to both companies has been discussed before. The primary benefit besides avoiding a protest and delaying the program again would be to more quickly replace the KC-135 aircraft.

The U.S.A.F. and Defense Department have not been positive about this idea in the past due to the larger, more expensive logistics tail required to support two dissimilar systems. During World War II and the Cold War the U.S. often did invest in multiple systems for a mission often operated by separate services. The U.S. military has not had the resources to afford this kind of commitment.

The new RFP is expected to be released within a matter of weeks. For the Air Force to do a dual award it would require development and approval of a whole new acquisition strategy. This would lead to even further delays in this contract. The chances of buying the two aircraft in the next year or so are very slight.

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Northrop And EADS Wait On Final RFP Release

January 13, 2010 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Syndicated Industry News 

The KC-X Tanker RFP is expected to be released in the next few weeks. Previously Notthrop and its partner EADS had threatened not to participate as they felt the draft RFP was biased in favor of Boeing. Now they are saying they will wait and see what is in the RFP when it is put out. It is in the best interest of the Air Force and the U.S. Government to receive multiple bids on the project.

Without competition the chance of this third attempt proceeding will be difficult. Sole sourcing the contract to either Boeing or the Northrop team will cause an outcry in Congress no matter what as both companies have their supporters. Not putting out a competitive RFP will only lead to protests and further delays in what has become a critical program to replace the aging KC-135 aircraft.

We are all going to have to wait to see what the Air Force puts out and how Northrop, EADS and Boeing respond to it.

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Analysis Stresses Increased Cost To Air Force Of A330 Due To Size

October 22, 2009 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Syndicated Industry News 

This analysis at The Gehrson-Lehamn Group stresses that the Northrop Grumman/EADS A330 based tanker proposal will be more expensive then the Boeing 767 one due to the larger size of the aircraft and the requirements for investments in infrastructure to support it. The conclusion is that the 767 aircraft is currently closer in size to the existing KC-135 fleet and the existing Air Force bases, runways and facilities will support it with little or no modifications.

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Boeing’s United States Tanker: Always Remember the Customer

October 21, 2009 by Boeing United States Tanker · Comment
Filed under: KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Syndicated Industry News 
A key part of building a good proposal and running a smart acquisition campaign is to always remember the customer. That's not very tough on KC-X. We see the U.S. Air Force working very hard to fly and maintain their current fleet of KC-135 air refueling tankers each day and realize they must have a new tanker as soon as possible. I just read a posting in Air Force Magazine's Daily Report eNewsletter ("Afghan Surge Prompts Mobility Records") describing the service's record breaking efforts in Afghanistan that tells it all. According to the story, USAF mobility forces have set records for cargo airdropped (4.1 million pounds in September). On the tanker side, approximately 80 million pounds of fuel was offloaded last month compared to 60 million pounds way back in February. For those of you who have served in the Air Mobility Command, this type of surge is not new but still very impressive. Whether it's the planners at the Tanker Airlift Control Center managing the global movement of aircraft or the aircrews and maintainers keeping it all on schedule despite some difficult challenges, it is very clear how important the U.S. Air Force is to keeping America safe and projecting our nation's reach. Read more at United States Tanker

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DoD Early Estimates Two Tankers Have High Costs

October 20, 2009 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, U.S. Air Force 
Prior to the release of the latest RFP for the KC-X tanker program some in Congress and the media mooted using a split award for the aircraft. This would allow for faster fielding of tankers to expedite replacement of the older KC-135’s. It would also possibly reduce the chance of a protest by either Northrop or Boeing as well as spreading the contract around to different states. The biggest issue with the idea is that it would add cost to the program. Through the necessity of having two separate support tails the overall program would be more expensive. There would be two training tracks, sets of support equipment and parts pools alone. The aircraft also may not be complimentary. The DoD estimated back in April that the total additional cost would be over $14 billion. Obviously neither the Air Force or the U.S. Government has this kind of money available to support the idea. It would have to be payed for at the expense of other Air Force or DoD programs. It may be that cost estimates with more refinement are created that reduce this, but right now the plan is one company and one aircraft.

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Air National Guard To Have Role With KC-X

October 19, 2009 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Syndicated Industry News 

Since 9/11 the U.S. military has moved to integrate even more their National Guard and Reserve Forces. They have been called up at high rates and have received more and upgraded equipment. Currently the Air National Guard of various states like Alabama fly KC-135 tankers. If the full fleet of KC-X aircraft are built then some of the states will receive these new tankers. Recently it was announced that the Air National Guard will provide participation on the KC-X source selection. This is most likely to help make sure that any specific requirements of the Air Guard are considered and is not common with programs of this size.

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Just Ask The Question

October 16, 2009 by Boeing United States Tanker · Comment
Filed under: Syndicated Industry News 

One of the main reasons we created UnitedStatesTanker.com and this blog was to provide some insight into a very critical acquisition effort to replace America's air refueling tanker fleet.

For those who've been following that newly-started KC-X competition, you know the U.S. Air Force released their draft Request for Proposal (RFP) Sept. 25. This document goes into detail about the 373 requirements that must be met to participate in the competition. It also describes how proposals will be scored and even what happens in case of a tie. Our United States Tanker team has spent a great deal of time studying the draft RFP. Remember this is the main document we'll be using to decide which member of our KC-7A7 'family of tankers' to offer, or whether to offer both.

But we can't just make decisions on what's written in the document alone. Our main focus as we drive toward some key internal decisions is clarity. We must clearly understand how the service's requirements are defined and prioritized, and how our proposal will be evaluated.

So how do we get those answers? Simple...just ask.

Any company seeking to compete to build the replacement for the KC-135 Stratotanker fleet can submit questions to the KC-X Tanker Program Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, and have them answered online at the Federal Business Opportunities website.

We began submitting questions earlier this month and look forward to seeing the answers posted on the public website soon. While some of that Q&A may be administrative in nature, you might gain some interesting insight into how the process works by checking out the site. Feel free to tell us what you'd ask.

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Air Force retires another KC-135

October 6, 2009 by admin · Comment
Filed under: Syndicated Industry News 

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force retired a KC-135 Stratotanker following more than 50 years of service as part of the effort to transition the airlift fleet to the KC-X.

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M7 gets KC-135 work

September 8, 2008 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Contract Awards, Military Aviation, U.S. Air Force, production program 

Because of  the ongoing struggle with the KC-45 contract, the KC-135 tanker still has to fly.  Boeing is the prime support contractor for an aircraft they originally built 50 years ago.  They awarded M7 a subcontract to build spoilers for the aircraft.  M7 has been supporting Boeing with parts since 2005.  This contracts illustrates how diverse the business is with the big companies paying lots of little companies to make parts at a cheaper price then they could.

The story is at The San Antonio Business Journal site.

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Boeing reported as submitting last KC-X proposal

January 3, 2008 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Proposal, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, production program 

Reported here that Boeing submitted their latest, and last, proposal for the KC-X tanker requirement. Boeing had proposed a 767 based solution in the past, but had also mooted a 777 version as well. Competition comes from Airbus, which submitted a variant of the A340 for this RFP. The tanker replacement program has been controversial since 2002, when originally the Air Force planned to just lease 100 or so 767’s to replace the aging KC-135. That idea was rejected by Congress and led to the current competition.

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CMTC Defense Parts Direct℠ Program Opens Door for 25 California Companies to Expand Work with the DOD

March 16, 2010 by Business Wire Defense: Contracts News · Comment
Filed under: Syndicated Industry News 
TORRANCE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California Manufacturing Technology Consulting™ (CMTC), through its Defense Parts Direct℠ (DPD) service, enabled 25 California manufacturers to expand work with the Department of Defense (DOD). The companies are manufacturing parts for legacy systems which include the Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker, the Navy Sea Sparrow missile system, and the Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicle. The DPD service addresses developing capability of California’s ma

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