From Defense Aerospace

 

Tanker Recapitalization Proposal Released

(Source: US Air Force; issued Jan. 30, 2007)

 

WASHINGTON --- Air Force leaders officially released a request for proposal for a replacement tanker aircraft Jan. 30.

 

The RFP is the official invitation to manufacturers to begin making offers to build a replacement for the Air Force's aging "Eisenhower-era" fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers, said Sue Payton, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition.

 

"This is a major milestone in fair, open and transparent dialogue that we have been involved in since the request for information was sent out in April of 2006," she said. "We are confident it will allow us to fulfill the Air Force's No. 1 acquisition priority."

 

The Air Force's No. 1 acquisition priority is a replacement for the KC-135, as laid out late last year by Gen. T. Michael Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff. Other priorities include a new combat rescue helicopter, space-based early warning and communications satellites, the F-35 Lightning II and the next-generation, long-range strike bomber.

 

Ms. Payton said she expects to have a tanker contract in place before the end of the year, and that competition for the contract will be fair for all involved.

 

"The RFP has laid the groundwork for a fair and open competition that will ensure a thorough evaluation of any proposal we receive," she said. "We remain committed to a full and open competition. The KC-X is our No. 1 acquisition priority for the Air Force, and we will continue to conduct this competition in a very deliberate and open manner."

 

Ms. Payton said she expects the Air Force could see the first operational fleet of new tankers by 2013.

 

Air Force Posts KC-X Request for Proposals

 

(Source: US Department of Defense; issued Jan. 30, 2007)

 

WASHINGTION --- The Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition announced today the posting of the KC-X Aerial Refueling Aircraft Request for Proposal to the Federal Business Opportunities website, signaling the official launch of the Air Force's number one priority acquisition program.

 

The announcement comes after an extensive and transparent dialogue between Air Force officials and officials from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Air Mobility Command, industry and members of Congress. Sue C. Payton, the Air Force's senior acquisition executive, said that throughout this entire acquisition process, the Air Force has sought to minimize development risk among differing aircraft manufacturers and types. This RFP is the culmination of those deliberations.

 

"The Air Force aerial tanker is essential to all Air Force and Joint global operations," said Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, the military deputy for acquisition. "It allows the Joint Force to project mobility, strike and surveillance forces anywhere and anytime without relying on intermediate bases for refueling. Tankers put the 'Global' in Global Power."

 

The KC-X program is the first of three acquisition programs the Air Force will need to replace the entire fleet of aging KC-135 Stratotankers, which have been in service for more than 50 years.

 

The primary mission of the KC-X will be to provide aerial refueling to United States military and coalition aircraft in the global war on terror and other missions. However, the Air Force also intends to take full advantage of the other capabilities inherent in the platform, and make it an integral part of the Defense Transportation System.

 

"From addressing national security threats to supporting rapid global strikes to providing urgently needed humanitarian operations, Joint and Coalition operations depend upon the rapid global mobility capabilities which the Air Force aerial tanker provides," said the general.

 

The RFP stipulates nine primary key performance parameters:

 

1) Air refueling capability

2) Fuel offload and range at least as great as the KC-135

3) Compliant Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) equipment

4) Airlift capability

5) Ability to take on fuel while airborne

6) Sufficient force protection measures

7) Ability to network into the information available in the battle space

8) Survivability measures (defensive systems, Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) hardening, chemical/biological protection, etc)

9) Provisioning for a multi-point refueling system to support Navy and Allied aircraft

 

Ms. Payton stressed that the department has gone through a rigorous review process for KC-X and has validated that the RFP accurately reflects the requirements as laid out by the warfighter.

 

The final RFP defines an integrated, capability-based, best-value approach. The RFP includes specific factors for assessing the capability contribution of each offeror. Along with cost and assessments of past performance and proposal risk, these factors provide the source selection authority with excellent means to determine the best value between proposals of significantly differing capabilities and cost.

 

"The Air Force remains committed to a full and open competition. The KC-X is the Air Force's #1 acquisition priority and its acquisition will continue to be conducted in a transparent and deliberate manner," said Ms. Payton.

The KC-X System Requirements Document (SRD), which has all the meaty details of what the USAF will expect from the KC-X tanker, can be found here:

 

KC-X SRD

From Defense Talk

 

US Air Force chief foresees mixed tanker fleet

Jim Wolf, Reuters | Feb 22, 2007

 

WASHINGTON: The US Air Force likely would seek to buy refueling planes from both Boeing Co. and a rival transatlantic team led by Northrop Grumman Corp., the top Air Force general said Wednesday.

 

Boeing is vying with the team of Northrop and Airbus parent EADS to supply 179 tanker planes, valued at about $40 billion, in the first phase of a fleet-renewal program expected to be worth more than $100 billion over more than 30 years.

 

"I think down the road you'll see us go to a mixed fleet," Gen. Michael Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, told a briefing hosted by the State Department's Foreign Press Center in New York and also videoconferenced to reporters in Washington.

 

This was because there was "some utility" to having larger and smaller tankers, just as the current fleet is made up of bigger KC-10 and smaller KC-135 models, he said.

 

The prospect of a mixed fleet is good news for Los Angeles-based Northrop, which had threatened to shun the competition until this month for fear it was skewed to favor Chicago-based Boeing.

 

The Northrop team is offering a modified Airbus A330 airliner, which is bigger and expected to be pricier than the Boeing candidate, a modified 767 passenger jet.

 

Moseley said the Air Force may need as much as another $20 billion a year for at least the coming five years to replace aging aircraft fast enough to keep unit costs affordable.

 

"It's looking like (the additional fund need) could be $20 billion a year through the FYDP," he said, referring to the Pentagon's Future Years Defense Plan that projects spending through 2013.

 

At issue is the total the Air Force thinks it would be short to meet modernization goals even if it gets the $110.7 billion sought by U.S. President George Bush for fiscal 2008, which starts Oct. 1.

 

The tanker replacement program is the Air Force's No. 1 acquisition priority. It has been dragged out for years since a procurement scandal killed a $23.5 billion Air Force sole-source plan to lease and buy 100 Boeing KC-767s.

 

The contract for the first phase is to be awarded by late summer, to be followed by a competition for another batch of 180 to 200 planes, Moseley said.

 

"So there will be a continual set of opportunities for both companies to compete," he said, adding that the Air Force, in making its choice, would focus on the future tankers' "lifecycle" costs .

 

"Lifecycle cost has to be as low as we can get it with the most capable airplane we can get," he said.