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Boeing labor union credits Obama for Air Force tanker win Published: Saturday, February 26, 2011, 5:00 AM By George Talbot The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. will meet with top military officials on Monday to learn why its bid for the U.S. Air Force tanker contract fell short against rival Boeing Co. The details of that 10 a.m. CST meeting at the Pentagon could dictate whether or not EADS will protest the award The selection of Boeing’s KC-767 tanker, announced Thursday by the Air Force, stunned observers on both sides of the high-stakes competition for the $35 billion deal....

Boeing open to Indian tanker invite February 26, 2011 By Saurabh Joshi After winning the USD 35 billion contest to supply the US Air Force (USAF) with 179 air-to-air refuelers, Boeing has indicated it might be willing to service Indian requirements too. India is currently considering bids for the Airbus A-330 MRTT and the Russian IL-78 refuelers in a tender, which closed on January 12. Dr. Vivek Lall, Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security unit’s India Vice President said ,”We do foresee additional international interest in the NewGen Tanker, based on its selection by the US Air Force, and we will...

The first of four Boeing KC767-A tanker aircraft have been delivered to the Italian air force. The handover took place at the Pratica di Mare Air Base south of Rome, where the aircraft flew in from Boeing's facility in Kansas, an Italian air force statement said. Before entering service, the aircraft will "undergo a series of tests and activities," the statement said. The Italy KC-767 tanker transport offers superior range, payload and offload capability, and will provide exceptional operational flexibility, military experts say. The advanced aerial refueling boom is designed for interoperability within the NATO military alliance.

US military's tanker deal: a saga without end Sun, Jan 23, 2011 AFP WASHINGTON - The battle between aerospace giants Boeing and EADS to supply new aerial refueling tankers for the US Air Force could drag on even after the military finally makes a decision on the contract, experts say. For the past decade, the Pentagon has struggled to launch a new fleet of refueling aircraft to replace the old KC-135 workhorses that date back to the 1950s, but the effort has been marred by scandal and bitter feuds. Two previous attempts to move ahead with a new tanker were...

Time to Split the Baby A solution to the Air ForceÂ’s tanker woes. John Noonan December 13, 2010, Vol. 16, No. 13 Few defense acquisition tales have been as sordid as that of the U.S. Air ForceÂ’s new refueling tanker, the KC-X. The tanker acquisition program first popped up on the national radar screen in 2001, when Senator John McCain called into question a no-bid contract that would have leased modified Boeing 767s to the Air Force instead of purchasing a new tanker outright. An ensuing corruption scandal marred the leasing deal beyond recognition. In the years since, the issue...

The US Air Force has started the countdown to the KC-X contract award after having received three bids to build 179 tankers, including a last-minute offer from a California company selling Antonov aircraft. The contest is likely to remain a face-off between the Boeing KC-767NewGen Tanker and the EADS North America KC-45, even though Antonov-bidder US Aerospace touted a possibly lower $29.5 billion price tag for its proposal.

A labor union of technical engineers issued an 11-page “white paper” today ripping the USAF tanker contract award to Northrop Grumman and the KC-30 over the Boeing KC-767. The two page press release summarizes the white paper findings. The press release focuses entirely on EADS, parent of Airbus and maker of the A330-200 on which Northrop’s offering of the KC-30 is based. Northrop’s identified as a “minority” partner. (During a conference several months ago, Northrop acknowledged that about 50% of the contract revenues flow to EADs/Airbus. Engines, in this case provided by GE (an American company), typically represent about 20%...

Not all quite on the tankern front. “US GAO begins hearing on Northrop/EADS tanker deal”http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0539240420080505 “A GAO spokesman confirmed the start of the hearing, but gave no details. The congressional agency, which reviews contract disputes, is due to rule on the case by June 19. The hearing includes lawyers from Boeing, Northrop, and the Air Force, with three GAO officials hearing the various arguments, according to three sources familiar with the case, who said it could last all week. “This hearing will go on for days and days,” said one of the sources, who asked not to be named. “Each...

History dictates that protecting and maintaining a nation's industrial base is critical to its national security and to winning wars. This is why taking out an enemy's manufacturing infrastructure, as America did to Germany and Japan during World War II, is the first step in rendering it defenseless.Yet today in America, despite the menace of terrorism and threats from assorted despots around the globe, we are neglecting — and in some cases damaging — our own military industrial base. America has shed 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2001, many in our military supply chain. The average age of today's factory...

Pentagon officials will review a $40 billion Air Force program to buy 179 jet-refueling planes on Feb. 22, more than a week later than expected, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Defense Department said on Monday. The meeting of the Defense Acquisition Board, headed by chief Pentagon weapons buyer John Young, had already slipped to Feb. 13 from late January.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Northrop Grumman, the No. 3 Pentagon contractor, announced Wednesday that it will team with European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. to build an air-to-air refueling tanker that can challenge Boeing Co., once thought to have a lock on an Air Force contract worth billions. For Los Angeles-based Northrop, which built the Cold War-era, billion-dollar B-2 Stealth bomber, the program puts the company in contention for major Air Force work and places it at the fore of a new trend that teams American defense contractors with European manufacturers. The airplane's basic design will come from the commercial...

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - As the dust settles on a series of scandals at Boeing Co., the Chicago-based aerospace giant and its nemesis, Airbus, are now jockeying to revive a multibillion-dollar Air Force plan to purchase hundreds of modified airliners as aerial refueling tankers. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., quietly attached an amendment to the Defense Department budget bill last month that would effectively eliminate Airbus from a future tanker bidding competition, leaving Boeing as the only available option for a contract that could be worth billions of dollars. The Airbus defense group - called the European Aeronautic Defense and Space...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee said on Friday it had voted in effect to shield Boeing Co. from competition from Europe's largest defense contractor for a projected $50 billion U.S. aerial-refueling aircraft market. The panel neither singled out nor named EADS, which wants to offer a tanker version of its Airbus A330 to the U.S. Air Force. Instead, it voted to bar the acquisition of a major weapons system from any foreign company that gets what the United States has protested as a government subsidy barred by the World Trade Organization, said spokesman, Josh Holly....

ST. LOUIS , February 24, 2005 – Boeing (NYSE:BA) officials and their Italian Air Force customers revealed the first KC-767A advanced aerial refueling tanker during ceremonies today at the Boeing site in Wichita, Kan. The Rollout event marks completion of essential structural modification to the world's most advanced aerial refueling aircraft. "The KC-767A program represents the fulfilment of one of the most important goals in the Italian Air Force transport and support fleet modernization process," said General Giovanni Sciandra, the three-star general commanding the Italian Air Force Logistics Command. "As a transportation platform, the KC-767A will increase the expeditionary capability...

Boeing chief executive Harry Stonecipher will be in Wichita on Feb. 24 to celebrate the rollout of the first KC-767 aerial refueling tanker for the Italian Air Force. Stonecipher will be joined by its Italian customer and Jim Albaugh, head of Boeing's defense business, at the Boeing-Wichita Development and Modification Center. The rollout marks the completion of essential structural work to the aircraft for flight and testing certification. The tanker is the first of four being built for the Italian Air Force. It's scheduled to be delivered in April 2006.

Reuters: Boeing Tanker Lease Remains 'Complicated' Friday May 9, 2:03 pm ET By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co.'s (NYSE:BA - News) multi-billion proposal to lease 100 jets to the U.S. Air Force as refueling tankers remains a 'complicated issue,' the Defense Department said Friday. ADVERTISEMENT The department, which must endorse any deal before it goes to the White House budget office and ultimately to Congress, cannot rush its work because of the issue's complexities, said Cheryl Irwin, a Pentagon spokeswoman. 'This is a complicated issue and one that deserves the closest attention to make certain that we make...

<p>Fifteen months ago, the struggling Boeing Co.'s ambitious plan for a $17billion revenue boost was stuck deep in a Washington quagmire.</p> <p>The aerospace giant wanted to lease to the Pentagon 100 of its 767 airliners modified as aerial refueling tankers, and it had won over the Air Force and key members of Congress.</p>

QUICK LINKS: HOME | NEWS | OPINION | RIGHTPAGES | CHAT | WHAT'S NEW townhall.comThe Air Force's new lease on lifeFrank J. Gaffney, Jr. (back to web version) September 3, 2003  When Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain opens a hearing today [Wednesday] on an Air Force proposal to lease 100 Boeing 767 tanker aircraft, he will cast himself as a defender of the public interest against wasteful defense spending.  It is, therefore, no small irony that this hearing ? and the dilatory, many-months-long process it culminates, is the real waste of time and energy, to the detriment of...

Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt says the Department of Defense has approved the deal to lease and purchase new tankers for the United States Air Force. Tiahrt says acceptance of the deal brings to an end two years of negotiations and wrangling over the agreement. "Over the next year we should see more aerospace jobs come back into play in our community," Tiahrt said. "The upside is 4,000 when you suppliers into consideration." Here are the basic terms of the deal: Each aircraft will cost $131 million. The lease is a firm, fixed-price contract with Boeing's profit margin not to exceed...