India Relooking New Tanker Aircraft

December 16, 2009 by Matthew Potter · 2 Comments
Filed under: Business Line, Companies, Contract Awards, Countries, EADS, Events, India, Military Aviation, Proposal, development program, logistics 

India currently operates a version of the Ilyushin-76 transport aircraft as an aerial tanker. The Il-78 “Midas” has been in service with Russia and India for several years and is a rugged, fairly cheap solution. Recently the Indian government had proposed new tankers based on the Airbus A330 aircraft. The same tanker is being purchased by England and would be considered again by the U.S. Air Force for its KC-X competition.

Now it is reported that the Finance Ministry has raised some concerns over the cost of the A330 compared to the Il-78. Both aircraft were proposed for the contract and the Il-78 was the cheaper bid. The Ministry feels that the contract should be reconsidered on cost grounds and also due to the fact that India already operates the Il-78 making it easier to integrate the new tankers. It is assumed though that the A330 platform offers benefits in capability and technology level over the older Russian aircraft.

India has been planning on new investment in their Armed Forces utilizing the purchase of foriegn, Western equipment to quickly upgrade their technological level. At the same time new rules on offsets and foriegn investment means that their economy will gain through these deals. The most important contract that is out there is for a new fighter which is currently undergoing the early stages of competition. Several U.S. and European companies as well as MiG have submitted bids.

It might be that the Indian Government decides that the higher cost of the A330 is worth it if the capability purchased is significantly enhanced.

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Pro-Boeing Legislators Want Air Force To Penalize EADS

November 20, 2009 by Matthew Potter · Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Syndicated Industry News 

Several Representatives and Senators from states where Boeing (BA) would do much of the work if they won the KC-X tanker contract are pushing the Air Force to either exclude outright EADS (EADS.P) or place a cost factor on their bid. This is all due to the World Trade Organization (WTO) draft ruling that the company received illegal subsidies from several European governments. Supporters of the Northrop Grumman (NG) and EADS say that the ruling is draft and not finalized and should not apply in this competition.

If there was such a move by the Air Force it would significantly reduce the competition in the contract process. It would make the Air Force award the contract to Boeing as the other bid would not be competitive. Of course this is what the legislators want, but a sole source award to Boeing probably would not be palatable to others in Congress or the Department of Defense. There should be at least two bids for each contract and this one is limited to Boeing, EADS and possibly the Russian company Ilyushin. Chances are that a Russian aircraft would not be chosen no matter how cost effective it is. This leaves the U.S. in a very limited position with the KC-X.

This kind of fighting can be expected to go on for the next several months to after the contract award and resolution of any protest.

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Hamilton Sundstrand Awarded Commercial Aircraft Parts Contract From Irkut

August 21, 2009 by Matthew Potter · 1 Comment
Filed under: Business Line, Contract Awards, Countries, Events, Hamilton Sundstrand, Irkut, Russia, UTC, commercial aviation, development program, production program 

The Russian commercial aircraft manufacturer Irkut Corporation awarded the United Technology subsidiary Hamilton Sundstrand a contract to develop and provide parts for their new airliner. The contract could be worth over $2 billion dollars in the end. The MS-21 (MC in the Cyrillic Alphabet) will be a joint development of various Russian aircraft corporations to be in service sometime around 2015.

This aircraft will replace the aging fleet of Tupelov manufactured Tu-154 airliners. Irkut has also received contracts to build parts for Airbus as well as work with Yakalov on their Yak-130 aircraft. Hamilton Sundstrand will produce electrical generators and systems as well as the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) and other systems for the advanced aircraft.

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Tanker decision fallout

September 13, 2008 by Matthew Potter · 1 Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, EADS, Military Aviation, Proposal, Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, development program, logistics, production program 

A fallout from Secretary Gates’ decision to postpone the KC-45 RFP is that EADS now is discussing whether they will bid on the contract next year. Boeing had threatened to not compete, feeling the terms where not in their favor and now EADS is upset that the recompete cannot go forward. Without two competitors it will be hard to have a competition. Unfortunately unless you want a Russian aircraft proposed their are only two companies capable of bidding – Boeing and EADS. McDonnel Douglas, who actually won the last tanker contract with the KC-10, is now part of Boeing.

See the press release at TheEarthTimes.

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