Dilemma for Boeing as Pentagon Issues Revised RFP for KC-X | Aviation International News

Dilemma for Boeing as Pentagon Issues Revised RFP for KC-X

Boeing faces a tough decision, now that the Pentagon has confirmed that bigger is better in the KC-X tanker competition.

By Chris Pocock • Defense Correspondent

August 22, 2008

Boeing faces a tough decision, now that the Pentagon has confirmed that bigger is better in the KC-X tanker competition. “We’ve now revised the language to make it unambiguous that we intend to provide consideration above threshold for fuel offload,” said U.S. director of defense procurement and acquisition policy Shay Assad. He spoke at a press briefing on August 6, to introduce the draft revised request for proposals (RFP).

The Airbus KC-30 that Northrop Grumman is offering carries 45,000 pounds more fuel than Boeing’s KC-767 Advanced Tanker, according to Paul Meyer, who leads the Northrop Grumman bid team. “[The KC-30] may burn more gas to get to the refuelling point [than the KC-767] but [it] delivers more,” he told AIN at the recent Farnborough Air Show. The KC-30 is the Northrop Grumman designation for the Airbus A330-200 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). The Pentagon issued the official designation KC-45 when it awarded the KC-X contract to Northrop Grumman. That contract is now on hold, pending the revised selection process.

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