Going With One Tanker Vendor?

Aug. 4, 2006

The Air Force may want to award only one contractor to build its new fleet of air refueling aircraft, so Boeing VP for tankers Mark McGraw told reporters Wednesday. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, McGraw gleaned that insight from reading USAF’s preliminary systems requirements. The Post-Dispatch also notes that “top Pentagon officials” had been considering splitting the buy between Boeing and the Northrop Grumman-EADS team. However, we noted this past spring that the Air Force’s top military acquisition official, Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, said it would be less expensive to have just one vendor, at least for the first 100 aircraft.

Related Content

USAF F-16s to Police Bulgaria’s Skies for NATO

Sept. 28, 2020
For the next four weeks, USAF Airmen and F-16s and Bulgarian air force fighter aircraft will fly NATO air patrols over Bulgaria to protect the nation’s airspace, improve the Air Force’s interoperability with its counterparts there, and serve as a show “of Allied solidarity,” NATO and USAF announced Sept. 28.…

Virtual Events: Mitchell Institute Rolls Out New Policy Paper, and More

Sept. 27, 2020
On Oct. 1, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual rollout of its latest policy paper, “Understanding the Promise of Skyborg and Low-Cost Attritable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” by retired USAF Col. Mark Gunzinger, the think tank's director of future Concepts and capability assessments, and…

Snapshot: DOD and COVID-19

Sept. 26, 2020
Here's a look at how the Defense Department is being impacted by and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fourth GPS III Satellite Heads to Space

Sept. 25, 2020
Lockheed Martin’s fourth GPS III satellite is scheduled to head to space on a SpaceX rocket Sept. 29, marking the navigation system’s second launch so far this year. “It'll be awesome to have four GPS III satellites on orbit. It's a good start to the Space Force's effort to modernize…

USAF Orders NP2000 Propeller Systems for Guard, Reserve C-130Hs

Sept. 25, 2020
The Air Force recently chose Collins Aerospace Systems, a Raytheon Technologies subsidiary, to provide NP2000 propeller systems for 30 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve C-130H aircraft, the company announced Sept. 14. “With its eight composite blades and digital Electronic Propeller Control System (EPCS), NP2000 offers a number of…

ABMS Goes to the Pacific in ‘Valiant Shield’

Sept. 25, 2020
American military forces used a large-scale training exercise in the Pacific this month to experiment with new ways of commanding troops as part of the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System effort. The Air Force’s third ABMS demonstration, known as an “on-ramp,” quietly unfolded Sept. 14-25 within the biennial “Valiant…

C-17s Begin Deep Freeze Flights in Antarctica

Sept. 25, 2020
C-17s and Airmen deployed for Operation Deep Freeze have started flying crucial personnel and equipment into Antarctica for winter flying season. The C-17s, deployed from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., have flown three missions in recent weeks, transporting 151 personnel and 165,000 pounds of cargo to McMurdo Station, according to a…

‘Operation Blood Rain’ Makes Case for a New Kind of Airdrop

Sept. 25, 2020
Earlier this year, the Air Force undertook an experiment to see whether fresh blood could be safely airdropped to medics working in harsh settings. “The research team determined an airdrop is a viable way of delivering blood to combat medics treating hemorrhaging patients in a pre-hospital setting,” a 96th Test…

Gauging Suicide’s Impact on USAF’s Total Force in 2020

Sept. 25, 2020
As the Defense Department prepares to release its Annual Suicide Report in the coming weeks, Air Force Magazine details the impact suicide has had on the Total Force so far in 2020, and how the service’s top uniformed leaders and its reserve component are working to tackle the issue. As…