Boeing Wins KC-X Contest

By John A. Tirpak and Michael C. Sirak
Boeing is the winner of the Air Force’s KC-X tanker competition, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley announced Thursday. The service chose the Chicago-based aerospace giant’s 767-based NewGen Tanker over the A330-based tanker model that EADS North America offered in the...

Boeing Comments on Tanker Win

Boeing is “honored to be given the opportunity to build the Air Force’s next tanker and provide a vital capability to the men and women of our armed forces,” said Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president, and CEO, in a release...

EADS Disappointed over KC-X Decision

EADS North America officials expressed disappointment on Thursday after the Air Force chose Boeing’s 767-based tanker aircraft over their own A330-based KC-45 tanker to replace the service’s oldest KC-135s. “This is certainly a disappointing turn of events, and we look...

Congress Reacts to KC-X Decision

Boeing supporters on Capitol Hill greeted Thursday’s KC-X decision. “Today’s long-awaited decision by the Pentagon is the right one for our military, our taxpayers, and our nation’s aerospace workers,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), in whose state Boeing manufactures the...

Digging Deep for Hard News

By John A. Tirpak
There was a quick, but unremarked correction at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium last week. Air Combat Command chief Gen. William Fraser, in his keynote speech, said the Air Force’s new penetrating bomber would have to carry the Massive Ordnance Penetrator,...

Balanced Engagement

By Marc V. Schanz
Despite the US military’s extensive engagement with partner nations in Central and South America, there remains a gap in these partnerships to address, said Gen. Douglas Fraser, head of US Southern Command. “We have a very good system which supports...

Looking Ahead

By Marc V. Schanz
The Air Force intends to keep the Minuteman III ICBM fleet in service until 2030, per Congress’ mandate, but is already in the early stages of exploring a successor land-based strategic deterrent, said Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, head of Air...

Training to the Mission

By Marc V. Schanz
Part of improving Air Force Global Strike Command operations is building more rigorous training regimes, said Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, AFGSC boss. To that end, the command has assembled several new programs to prepare airmen better for the global strike...

War or No War, Reserves Need More

By Arie Church
Supplemental funding for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan has “masked” consistent shortfalls in the Air Force Reserve budget, a situation that the Reserve officials are working “very hard right now” to readjust, said Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, AFR chief....

Light Attack’s Finer Iron

By Arie Church
Air Force testers will begin flight tests at the end of March to certify the Lockheed Martin-Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 light attack aircraft to carry precision-guided ordnance, according to a Hawker executive. Weapons trials are the second stage of a Congressionally...