USAF KC-46A Tanker Update

[jurgen]

Statement by Deputy Secretary William Lynn on Northop Grumman Tanker Announcement

"We are disappointed by Northrop's decision not to submit a bid for the U.S. Air Force tanker replacement program.

In the last tanker replacement (KC-X) competition, Northrop Grumman competed well on both price and non-price factors. We strongly believe that the current competition is structured fairly and that both companies could compete effectively.

Based on the inputs we received from both offerors to the Department's draft Request for Proposal (RFP), we made changes to reduce the out-year risk to the potential manufacturers of KC-X. However, we did not change the war-fighters' requirements to accommodate either offeror.

The Department strongly supports trans-Atlantic defense industrial ties and believes they benefit the American war-fighter and taxpayer."

[tva2]

You were ahead of me Jurgen


...."Richard Shelby says 'the Air Force blew it' on air tanker RFP"....

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...."Northrop Won't Bid on USAF Tanker"...

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...."Pentagon defends Air Force tanker criteria"....

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...."Washington state officials applaud Northrop's withdrawal from Air Force tanker contest"....

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...."Boeing, now alone in tanker bidding, must figure the right price"....

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...."Statement from EADS North America on Northrop Grumman’s decision not to bid on the U.S. Air Force KC-X contract"....

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[Rockville]

EU 'concerned' at US jet decision

Brussels has said it would be "extremely concerned" if the defence group EADS was prevented from fairly bidding for a major US defence deal.
Its comments came after pan-European EADS and US partner Northrop Grumman abandoned a bid for a $35bn (£23bn) mid-air refuelling aircraft contract.
Northrop Grumman and EADS said the terms of the Pentagon tender "clearly favour" US aerospace giant Boeing.
Boeing is now widely expected to win the contract for the aircraft.

'Disappointed'
The United States Air Force is seeking to replace its ageing fleet of 1950s-built KC-135 air tankers, which refuel other military planes in mid-air.
Northrop and EADS planned to supply a tanker plane based on the large capacity A330 plane made by EADS subsidiary Airbus, while Boeing is proposing to base its tanker on its smaller 767F freighter.
Northrop said the US defence department's latest proposed air tanker requirements were unfairly geared towards a smaller aircraft such as the 767.
The European Commission said in a statement that "it would be extremely concerned if it were to emerge that the terms of tender were such as to inhibit open competition for the contract".
It added that it "will be following further developments in this case very closely".
Meanwhile, German Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Rainer Bruederle, said he was "disappointed by the way the US defence ministry acted".
He added that the rules had "clearly favoured" Boeing, when "open competition should not be decided unilaterally".
The Pentagon said it regretted the EADS/Northrop Grumman decision, but US authorities have yet to respond to the European Commission's comments.
Northrop and EADS had planned to assemble the tanker planes in Alabama, where 300 new jobs would have been created.
Alabama Senator Richard Shelby said the competition had been wrongly "structured to produce the best outcome [for Boeing]".
"The air force had a chance to deliver the most capable tanker possible to our war fighters and blew it," he added.

Long-running saga
The US Air Force's efforts to replace its air refuelling tankers has had a protracted history.
Boeing was initially awarded the contract in 2003, only for it to be subsequently cancelled after an ethics scandal that saw a US Air Force official convicted of criminal conspiracy.
The official in question was said to have unfairly promoted the Boeing deal.
Northrop Grumman and EADS then won a contract in February 2008, but this was subsequently cancelled following a Boeing appeal.
At the time, there was substantial political opposition in Washington to the involvement of EADS, which owns Airbus, the European rival of US-based Boeing.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2010/03/09 13:20:08 GMT

[tva2]

...."How to manage Boeing before the KC-X deal gets done"....

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[tva2]

...."Pentagon could award aerial tanker work sooner"....

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6283B820100309

[tva2]

...."Editorial: No competition means Air Force gets second-best"....

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...."Airbus CEO says tanker bid makes no economic sense"....

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[pjotrtje]

Now that EADS errr... Northrop Grumman pulled the plug on their own, preventing a head-to-head fight to decide what's the best tanker the US forces need, they should be the last one to complain. The parameters in the first bid were too vague to have any real competition at all: only minima mentioned, no explicit values for serviceability, flight deck configuration, time on station, and as such the bigger one (KC-30) won the bid. Now that the parameters within which the aircraft has to perform are more clear, i.e. the US forces explicitly defined their demands, now they just give up. And of course, the European Commission backs EADS in what now clearly has become a political USA vs. Europe engagement.
Ah well... The USA spends billions of US dollars on that side of the pond, and use the KC-767 in anger. We'll spend our euros on a small number of A330 MRTT aircraft and never go to war with them.

[tva2]

...."Don’t turn air race into trade war, Mandelson tells Obama"....

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...."Sarkozy to Intervene in EU-U.S. Tanker Deal: Minister "....

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...."Tanker Deal Gives a Lift to Boeing"....

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[tva2]

...."France vows retaliation against US in air tanker dispute "....

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... spute.html



...."The best plane loses"....

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http://www.economist.com/business-finan ... d=15663919


...."Defense secretary disappointed in Northrop Grumman's withdrawal from air tanker contest"....

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...."EADS Was Unable To Prime On KC-X"....

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[Rockville]

Source: EADS Seeking New Tanker-Bid Partner

The U.S. Air Force's $35 billion KC-X competition may not end up being a sole-source competition. It appears that EADS is looking to buy time to find a new partner to bid in the fight against tanker rival Boeing.
"We're hearing that EADS has approached DoD and asked for an extension to the tanker bid submittal deadline," one congressional aide said today.
The deadline is in mid-May.
Meanwhile, Pentagon Acquisition chief Ashton Carter dodged numerous questions from reporters on the matter during a March 12 press conference at the Pentagon. All Carter would say is that the Pentagon "values the contribution of European industry to the choices that we can make as a department." He said that although the Pentagon doesn't have "an indication of any additional bidders, [DoD] is happy to have a competition."
Carter had earlier in the day refused to talk about the matter earlier during an interview with Defense News.
EADS North America officials also refused to comment on the matter, with company spokesman Guy Hicks saying March 12, "We don't comment on any communications between [EADS] and our customers."
One senior EADS official said earlier this week that he had serious doubts the company has enough time to find a new U.S. partner that could handle a $35 billion deal, such as Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications or Raytheon.
However, Raytheon issued a cryptic statement March 12 when asked whether company officials were in talks with EADS about a tanker partnership.
"We have the technology and capabilities to support the tanker program in a number of ways, but we have to refer [inquiries on the matter] to EADS," a company spokeswoman said.
Lockheed and L-3 were unavailable for comment at press time.

USAF MOVING AHEAD
Meanwhile, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and service Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told lawmakers during a March 10 House Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing that they intend to move ahead with the competition as planned.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said later in the week that the Pentagon will have to sharpen its pencils when negotiating with Boeing to ensure that the company doesn't try to use the de facto sole-source bid to gouge taxpayers on its 767-based bid, which is reportedly much cheaper than EADS' Airbus A330-based bid.
Northrop and EADS say that the final KC-X request for proposals (RfP) emphasized cost and other factors that "heavily weigh in favor of the smaller, less capable Boeing tanker," according to a March 8 statement from EADS North America Chairman Ralph Crosby. "Northrop Grumman's analysis of the RfP reaffirmed those concerns and prompted the decisions not to bid."
Despite recent developments, several analysts agree that time may have run out for EADS.
"Finding someone else would be tough to do unless they have already done the ground work" to establish a brand new KC-X partner, said Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments Senior Fellow Mark Gunzinger on March 10.
Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group was even more dubious, saying in a March 9 e-mail when asked whether he thought the Air Force might grant EADS extra time to put together a new tanker partnership.
"Hell, no," Aboulafia wrote. "EADS today said they were withdrawing - period."

Defense News,
Published: 12 Mar 2010 15:46 EST

[tva2]

...."EADS Has Received No Word From U.S. on Tanker"....

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[tva2]

...."Pentagon may extend tanker deadline to allow EADS bid"....

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...."Our troops deserve better "....

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[tva2]

...."European nations allege U.S. protectionism in tanker deal"....

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02204.html

[tva2]

...."EADS considers bid for $35B tanker contract"....

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http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/ ... r-contract


...."EADS wants time to prepare Air Force tanker bid"....

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...."EADS will consider tanker bid, wants 90-day deadline push"....

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[Rockville]

Russian State Firm: We'll Bid for USAF Tanker

Russian state-owned aerospace group United Aircraft Corp. plans to bid for a U.S. Air Force tanker contract, teaming up with a U.S. partner, a lawyer representing UAC said March 19.
"They're going to announce Monday [March 22] a joint venture with an American company to bid on the tanker program," attorney John Kirkland said.
Kirkland said the bid would be based on the Ilyushin Il-96, a four-engine airliner.
Asked about the UAC announcement, DoD spokewoman Cheryl Irwin said, "We welcome all qualified bidders." Asked whether the Russian firm was qualified, she said, "I don't know."
Boeing is the only company that has announced it will bid for the $35 billion contract to supply the Air Force with 179 aerial refueling tankers.
EADS, the parent of Boeing's arch-rival Airbus, said it was considering a bid for the contract after the Pentagon signaled a flexible deadline to accommodate the European aerospace giant.
Just last week EADS was forced to withdraw from the bidding after its lead partner, U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman, refused to compete, alleging the requirements unfairly were skewed toward Boeing's smaller aircraft.
UAC was launched in 2006 under the administration of then-president Vladimir Putin.
The UAC move Friday coincided with talks in Moscow between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Putin, the Russian prime minister.
Putin lamented that bilateral trade had plummeted $20 billion in 2009 to $16 billion as a result of the economic crisis, although he said the economic potential of the U.S.-Russia partnership remained high.
"I appreciate you raising the economic relationship because we are committed to broadening and deepening ties between our two economies, our business leaders and investors," Clinton said.

Defense News, Published: 19 Mar 2010 18:00