Air Force officials have confirmed that the service is on track for its aerial refueling contract award, saying a report in the Wall Street Journal about a delay is wrong. The Air Force will issue a draft request for proposal today and a final RFP on Dec. 15. Officials say the service still expects to make an award to one contractor in July 2007.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…