Tanker Wars II

The Umpire Strikes Back!

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has upheld an appeal by Boeing against the US Air Force’s decision to award the KC-45A (formerly KC-X) contract to a Northrop Grumman led consortium, in yet another extraordinary twist in the saga to supply the USAF with a new fleet of aerial refuelling tankers.

The June 18 announcement comes after the USAF’s February decision to acquire initially 80 and up to 179 Airbus A330‑200 based KC‑30 tankers in preference to Boeing’s smaller 767 based KC-767. Boeing’s appeal was based upon its perception that it was misled by the USAF on some of the bid criteria and favour being given to the Northrop Grumman bid in other areas.