{"id":57734,"date":"2021-06-16T23:34:03","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T23:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/06\/16\/another-boeing-airbus-tanker-war-is-coming-soon\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:14:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:14:46","slug":"another-boeing-airbus-tanker-war-is-coming-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air\/2021\/06\/16\/another-boeing-airbus-tanker-war-is-coming-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Boeing-Airbus tanker war is coming soon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Boeing and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2020\/07\/15\/airbus-us-pivots-business-strategy-away-from-selling-big-platforms-to-the-pentagon\/\" target=\"_blank\">Airbus <\/a>could find themselves duking it out as early as next year to provide aerial refueling aircraft to the U.S. Air Force, reigniting a bitter battle between <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2021\/06\/07\/whats-a-fair-price-for-kc-46-spare-parts-the-air-force-isnt-sure\/\" target=\"_blank\">Boeing\u2019s KC-46<\/a> and Airbus\u2019s A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force on Tuesday released a sources sought notice for a non developmental tanker aircraft known as KC-Y that would bridge the gap between KC-46 and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2021\/02\/02\/air-force-study-on-future-aerial-refueling-tanker-could-start-in-2022\/\" target=\"_blank\">next-generation KC-Z tanker<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force is looking for companies that could deliver as many as 15 commercial derivative tankers a year, with the new bridge tanker operational in 2029 \u2014 the same year the last KC-46 is due to be delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service plans to buy 140 to 160 KC-Ys to continue the replacement of its aging KC-135 fleet, which will be 70 years old when the bridge tanker is fielded, the solicitation stated. The competition could start as early as 2022, when the service issues a final request for proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force provided few details on how KC-Y would differ from KC-46, only saying that it is still finalizing its requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHowever, the baseline for aircraft capability will be based on the requirements from phase one of tanker recapitalization, with subsequent and emerging requirements as defined by the Air Force,\u201d the service stated in its solicitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the Air Force emphasizing that vendors should provide non-developmental aircraft that can be fielded in less than a decade, a contest between Boeing and Airbus is all but ensured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mike Hafer, who leads Boeing\u2019s global sales and marketing of the KC-46, said that the company looks forward to proposing the KC-46 for the KC-Y program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve learned a lot and we\u2019re going to focus on the Air Force\u2019s needs, fulfilling the requirements of the contract, and providing exactly what the Air Force wants,\u201d he told Defense News in an exclusive interview. \u201cWe\u2019re ready to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Airbus, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2018\/12\/05\/lockheed-airbus-venture-ups-the-pressure-on-boeing-to-deliver-its-us-air-force-tankers\/\" target=\"_blank\">teamed with Lockheed Martin<\/a> in 2018 to offer the A330 MRTT in the United States, also plans to compete in the program, Lockheed spokeswoman Stephanie Stinn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are responding to the U.S. Air Force\u2019s Sources Sought Notification for the Bridge Tanker Program, offering a mission-ready solution to meet the Air Force\u2019s future tanker requirements,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The KC-X competition ultimately resulted in the award of a $4.9 billion contract to Boeing in 2011, but it was preceded by years of contention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force had awarded Airbus \u2014 which was then called EADS and partnered with Northrop Grumman \u2014 a contract for the program in 2008, but Boeing\u2019s legal protest was successful and overturned the award. Northrop then pulled out of the competition in 2010, and Airbus\u2019s solo bid with the A330 was ultimately successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since winning the KC-46 program, Boeing has incurred more than $5 billion in losses as technical glitches have stacked up and required expensive fixes. (The terms of Boeing\u2019s fixed-price contract with the Air Force requires it to pay for any costs in excess of the initial $4.9 billion award.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Hafer was confident that Boeing\u2019s struggles on the KC-46 wouldn\u2019t influence its chances of winning KC-Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of risk that\u2019s been retired. These are identified issues that we\u2019ve put to bed and we\u2019re closing very rapidly with the other ones out there,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was an investment that the U.S. Air Force has paid [and] is getting the capability they want and need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, some lawmakers have shown interest in canceling Boeing\u2019s KC-46 contract and moving that business to Airbus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday, Reps. Rob Wittman, R-Va., and Mike Rogers, R-Ala., expressed frustration with the KC-46 and asked Air Force leaders to consider re-competing the contract due to Boeing\u2019s poor performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republican Rep. Jerry Carl \u2014 who represents Mobile, Ala., where Airbus currently makes commercial planes \u2014 made the case that U.S. Air Force fighters operating in Europe regularly receive fuel from the A330 tanker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKnowing that we\u2019ve got an aircraft that can be built in America, that could be already delivered because we\u2019re up to about three a month coming out of Mobile right now \u2014 not this particular plane, but basically the same scale \u2014 why are we not bringing this back up for a bid?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Acting Air Force Secretary John Roth said but the service currently doesn\u2019t see a cost-benefit to re-opening the KC-X competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI take your point in terms of the history of the contact,\u201d he said. \u201cBut\u2026we\u2019re concerned that if we tried to go into a new contract vehicle, that would put additional delays into the program that we simply don\u2019t think would be efficacious for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force intends to buy 179 KC-46s over the program of record, wrapping up procurement in fiscal year 2027. On Wednesday, Boeing announced the delivery of the 46th KC-46, which flew to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., that afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Air Force wants to buy as many as 160 KC-Y tankers after it&#8217;s finished with KC-46 production. Both Airbus and Boeing are ready to compete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"news"}}},"categories":[7,44,8,160,12,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3384],"class_list":["post-57734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-budget","category-congress","category-daily-news-roundup","category-industry","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"DMRAMNLCG5EJDHJTAFRZFJMB7I","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2021\/06\/16\/another-boeing-airbus-tanker-war-is-coming-soon\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Another Boeing-Airbus tanker war is coming soon - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Air Force wants to buy as many as 160 KC-Y tankers after it&#039;s finished with KC-46 production. 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