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man who walked on wings. Two daredevil pilots. A five-gallon can of fuel. Aerial refueling began as a stunt, rather than a key defense capability that today keeps America's military going. A maneuver that then probably earned the participants a few bucks has transformed into a multibillion-dollar industry with thousands of workers. From a man leaping from one aircraft to another, to what amounts to a fireman's hose connecting two planes, to today's high-tech boom system, aerial refueling has evolved dramatically over the last 89 years. Here's a look at Boeing's role. Early efforts The first refueling in the air...

Here's the latest twist in the Air Force tanker saga: The Russians are coming. Russia's government-owned aerospace company will announce Monday it is competing against Boeing for the $40 billion refueling tanker contract, a Los Angeles attorney for the company said Friday. United Aircraft of Moscow plans to unveil a U.S. partner and offer a modified version of its Ilyushin-96 wide-body plane, John Kirkland, head of the corporate securities practice at Luce Forward, said in an interview. The still-unidentified partner, "a U.S. public company and existing defense contractor," would assemble the planes in the U.S., he said. The Russian interest...

European defence giant EADS has dropped out of a nine-year, two-horse $40bn (£27bn) race to provide the US Air Force with a fleet of air tankers after accusing the American government of skewing the competition in rival Boeing's favour. EADS staff stand near a life-size scale display of the interior of the Airbus A400M military transport plane EADS and US partner Northrop-Grumman last night took the dramatic decision not to make a bid for the 179 plane contract after studying the latest terms drawn up by the US Department of Defence (DoD). The pairing, which actually won the contract in...

Northrop Grumman has decided not to bid in the Air Force refueling tanker contract, leaving Boeing's Everett-built 767 as the sole airplane competing for the $40 billion program. A person familiar with the details said Northrop will announce its decision after the market closes today...

Air Force launched a new competition Wednesday for a contract to begin replacing the nation's aging fleet of aerial tankers, but it's not clear whether Northrop Grumman and its European partner will bid against Boeing for the $35 billion deal. The initial contract is for 179 new tankers, but the deal eventually could be worth $100 billion as the Air Force replaces its fleet of about 600 Cold War-era tankers in what could be one of the largest Pentagon purchases ever. There apparently were few major changes from an earlier "request for proposals" that drew sharp criticism from the Northrop...

The US Air Force will attempt to kick-start its long-delayed, multi-billion dollar competition to replace its ageing fleet of refuelling tankers this week with a new set of bidding rules.It promises the competition, mired in controversy for more than six years, will be “full and open” but doubts remain over how much of a contest it will be. One of the two bid teams, led by Northrop Grumman in partnership with EADS, the Franco-German parent of Airbus, has already warned it will not take part unless the air force makes significant changes to a draft set of rules released...

With the nation’s economy still sagging, grass-roots advocates for the new Air Force aerial refueling tankers are bucking the Pentagon with a renewed pitch: Buy from two bidders and create thousands more jobs. The team of Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. has threatened to pull out of the bidding for the tanker contract worth $35 billion, arguing that new draft specifications favor the other bidder, Boeing. So, with only about a month remaining before the Pentagon will release its final specs in the latest round of the tanker competition, officials from the states that would...

The new CEO of EADS North America acknowledged Friday that a new Air Force refueling tanker contract is “critical” to the European aerospace conglomerate’s business in the United States. Sean O’Keefe, a former NASA administrator, made his comments after EADS’s tanker partner, Northrop Grumman, recently threatened to pull out of the tanker competition. EADS fully agrees with Northrop that without changes to the selection criteria, that team should not bid for the contract, worth at least $40 billion. With the prospect of not competing for the multibillion-dollar contract, EADS could be curtailing its chance to an aggressive and fast growth...

More than 50 oil tankers are anchored off Britain - pieces in a game in which the only winners are market speculators. The losers are the millions of British motorists paying over the odds for their petrol and diesel. After yesterday's report in the Daily Mail on how several so-called 'oil shark' tankers were moored near the Devon coast, dozens more vessels were revealed to be loitering off-shore. Some are carrying aircraft fuel or fuel for homes. Others are empty, waiting to be restocked before setting off around the globe. But according to industry experts, a significant number are 'oil...

Note: The following text is a quote: Three Convicted in International Truck Theft Conspiracy Sentenced to Prison HOUSTON—Three men who conspired to steal and transport millions of dollars of truck tractors, trailers and other heavy equipment to Central America have been sentenced to prison, United States Attorney Tim Johnson announced today. Rito Jasso-Zorilla, 32, Victor Antonio Garcia, 27, and Orlando Gonzalez Huerta, 29, all citizens of Mexico, were sentenced by United States District Judge David Hittner this morning for their respective roles in assisting Yuri David Melendez, 42, of Houston, with the far-reaching scheme. Beginning in 2001, Melendez received requests...

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is poised to reopen a troubled $35 billion contract competition for mid-flight refueling tankers between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. "After eight years, we can finally get on with this program," Rep. John Murtha, D- Pa., said Thursday. Murtha chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense. He was one of several lawmakers briefed by Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and other Pentagon officials on the latest request for bids — due out Friday — on the tanker competition. Washington Democrat Rep. Norm Dicks, a Boeing supporter, said the Air Force is seeking to reduce...

July 29, 2009: Saudi Arabia has ordered another three Airbus A330 tankers, for aerial refueling and carrying cargo. The Airbus MRTT is based on the twin engine Airbus 330-300, which normally sells for $160 million each. The 233 ton MRTT carries 111 tons of fuel, plus 43 tons of cargo (26 pallets).

House appropriators are handing Defense Secretary Robert Gates a dilemma: Buy aerial refueling tankers from two companies or hold a competition to select only one. Sounds like an easy choice for a competitive bid. But a House Appropriations Committee bill funding defense in fiscal year 2010 orders Gates — who says it’s unnecessary to have two tankers built by two companies — to run the terms of the competition by Congress, a task intended to boost oversight but one that adds the potential for more politicking. The competition is sure to provoke massive lobbying and posturing by supporters of Boeing...

House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., said Wednesday he would likely attach language to his panel's version of the fiscal 2010 Defense appropriations bill to encourage the Air Force to buy two types of aerial refueling tankers. Murtha has long advocated awarding the lucrative contract to the two aerospace rivals now vying for it, but he indicated he would stop short of requiring the Pentagon to pursue the split-buy strategy for the tankers. Under language he is drafting, Murtha said the decision ultimately would be up to the Pentagon, which has steadfastly opposed buying more than one type...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a congressional panel Tuesday he’ll decide in the next week whether the Air Force or senior Pentagon officials will pick the winner of the controversial competition to build new midair refueling tankers. The decision is expected to spark renewed political wrangling between congressional supporters of Boeing and the team of Northrop Grumman and EADS North America, competitors who have fought for months over a contract worth more than $35 billion. Gates told Senate defense appropriators that he’ll make his decision in the next seven to 10 days. “Part of the process I’m going through right...

The Air Force is moving forward with yet another Request for Proposal (RFP) to replace the ever-aging KC-135 aerial refueling tanker. The Pentagon has been in the process of replacing the tanker since 2001. These aircraft are 50 years old on average and are showing the strain of their age. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has declared it a strategic priority to modernize these tankers for a new century's threats. Yet, eight years later, a new tanker has not been built, and the acquisition process is mired in Washington politics. Our potential adversaries are watching while we debate and delay....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama may have to use a veto threat to preserve Pentagon plans for a winner-take-all competition to start a new multibillion-dollar U.S. aerial-refueling fleet, the head of the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee said on Monday. "That is probably where we'll start and end," Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, said in reply to a question about moves in Congress that would guarantee Air Force purchases from both rival tanker suppliers -- Boeing Co and a team of Northrop Grumman Corp and Europe's EADS. Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who chairs the House...

A proposal by U.S. Rep. John Murtha to split the Air Force tanker contract between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. will not be included in this year's supplemental war spending bill, according to the congressman.fileRep. John Murtha Murtha, D-Pa., the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees defense spending, said he was abandoning his push to add language to the bill that would have directed the Pentagon to buy planes from both manufacturers. Murtha "remains committed to working out a plan that gets tankers in the air faster," a spokesman said today. He said Murtha intends to...

The debate over whether America’s Boeing or Europe’s Airbus should be given the contract to build America’s next generation of mid-air refueling tankers has focused on several important topics, including the embarrassing flaws a recent General Accountability Office report found in the Air Force procurement process, the reshuffling of Pentagon jobs in its wake, and the suitability of both aircraft for the mission, chronicled in an excellent series in HUMAN EVENTS. All of these are important topics, but Americans should also step back and ask some basic questions before outsourcing key defense systems to foreign firms. Specifically, we need to...

Emergency fuel tankers set sail from Europe By Andrew Alderson, Jasper Copping and Richard Gray Last Updated: 1:54am BST 27/04/2008 Emergency supplies of fuel will be shipped in from Europe this week to prevent pumps in Scotland and England from running dry. A convoy of seven tankers carrying 65,000 tons of fuel, mostly diesel, will arrive in the next few days, following today's oil refinery strike. Dry run: A near-deserted Shell station in Edinburgh The shipments from Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Gothenburg will be unloaded on the river Forth, Scotland's busiest shipping lane. They will provide enough fuel to keep Scotland...