At the AFL-CIO Now Blog there is a story about the ten presidents of the AFL-CIO state federations sending a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates endorsing giving the tanker contract to Boeing. The union heads state that this is not only in the best interests of U.S. national security but also as an industrial base issue.

One of the reasons the U.S. is where it is at with this contract is that there is only one domestic source for the aircraft, Boeing. The only other manufacturer that can be really considered is EADS. To achieve any level of competition they have to be included otherwise the U.S. should just go back to the sole source lease idea shot down in 2001 – 2003.

The House passed the 2010 Authorization Bill today. As part of the language the Air Force was given $440 million to spend on the KC-X new tanker program. This money will obviously cover the costs of the Project Office and the actual management of the competition. It will probably allow investment in some long lead materials for the new aircraft if the project goes well as the money will not expire until September, 2013.

Boeing has been investigating offering two different proposals to meet the KC-X RFP. One of these would be based like last time on the 767 platform. There are already versions of this tanker being built for foriegn countries. Another would use the 777 air liner. This is larger then the 767 and would carry more fuel farther. The EADS A330 which won the last abortive attempt was the larger of the two aircraft bid and supposedly that helped it win. This approach though will make Boeing do a great deal more work then Northrop and EADS have to do as they already have the foundation for their new proposal as does Boeing with the 767 bid.

Despite a very disappointing decision last week concerning the KC-10 Contractor Logistics Support contract, our Boeing team should be very proud of how they've supported the men and women of America's Air Force.

In the decade that we've been on contract, our more than 200-member team based in San Antonio has provided depot-level maintenance for the Air Force KC-10 fleet more than 750 times. Over 70 additional Boeing employees around the world support the KC-10 aircraft fleet 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our performance has been exemplary:

• The Boeing team never missed a delivery. We had a 100-percent on-time delivery rate returning those valuable KC-10s back to their Air Force operators.
• While maintaining that high level of performance, our team reduced the depot cycle (time between work on each airplane) by approximately 30 percent over the last two years.
• The Boeing team significantly exceeded every supply requirement and averaged a less than one-percent non-mission capable for supply rate over the last nine years. This means that more aircraft were available to the customer on a regular basis than was required per the contract.

No matter how this ends, we are very proud of our entire KC-10 CLS team and thankful for the opportunity to have contributed to this nation's defense.

The U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC) will be operating the new KC-X tanker as a supplement to their KC-10 and KC-135 aircraft. Needless to say they are very excited about finally getting a new aircraft to replace their Cold War vintage fleet. Lost in all the back-and-forth on the contract and competition is the need for this aircraft.

Both the Gulf War and the current “Overseas Contingency Operations” demonstrate a need for aerial tanking. This capability extends the range of the U.S.’s strike aircraft as well as maximizes their presence on the battlefield.

The EADS facility in Mobile, AL was renamed the Airbus Military North America facility from EADS CASA North America. This plant will be used to assemble the A330 tankers that will be militarized by Northrop Grumman if that team wins the KC-X contract again. The plan to use an empty factory has gained the company a great deal of support from Alabama politicians.

This article at Bloomberg.com lays out the Air Force’s approach on awarding the contract. They intend to use a best value approach with over 300 minimum requirements and then another ninety or so to give trade space. The initial contract will be Firm Fixed Price (FFP) transferring a great deal of risk to the contractor. The ultimate goal is to have an open competition with no protest.

It is reported that Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) will attempt to amend the 2010 Defense Appropriations Bill so that the Air Force will be made to share Boeing cost data with Northrop Grumman. Boeing was provided some Northrop cost information as part of the resolution of the last contract and Northrop feels that it will allow them to do better on this one. They asked for the same data. Sessions’ Amendment supposedly will prevent money being spent on the program unless the Air Force does this.

This article at BNET: Government discusses the issues facing the Air Force as they begin the KC-X contest. Boeing and its supporters are trumpeting the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ruling against EADS and Northrop claims that the Air Force gave Boeing proprietary cost data. The government’s goal is to avoid a protest at all cost but these kind of things is not too comforting.

This post at Defense Procurement News details Boeing’s public response to the release of the draft KC-X RFP. In part they say “Boeing has a KC-7A7 ‘family of tankers’ available to meet the warfighter’s requirements. Whether it’s the agile, flexible 767-based tanker or the large 777-based tanker, Boeing will deliver a combat-ready tanker with maximum capability at the lowest cost.”