According to a report in the Spokesman-Review, the Air Force expects to have draft requirements ready to go by the end of this month for the controversial KC-X tanker program. Service officials, who have said they expect to release a new request for proposals this summer, passed the news to Spokane, Wash. community leaders and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) during a Pentagon visit last week. In an April 30 statement, McMorris Rodgers said she reiterated her goal “of bringing the new air refueling tankers to Fairchild Air Force Base in the most cost effective way possible while keeping jobs in the United States.”
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.