True, I was refering to RFP1 and 2.

As for Boeing not having their boom fall off, I guess you gotta put it on an airplane first...

 

First vertical stabs, now booms. What's next?

Ok, I'm not being fair but I don't care. I'm glad Boeing got the contract.

 

Booms may have yet to fall off, but us receivers sure can rip them off!

 

EADS won't protest U.S. tanker contract

12:56 pm ET 03/04/2011 - MarketWatch Databased News

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Netherlands-based EADS said Friday that it would not protest a $30 billion U.S. contract to build the next generation of Air Force aerial-refueling tankers awarded to Boeing Co., laying to rest a decade-long dispute.

"We put our best effort into this," said Sean O'Keefe, chief executive of EADS North America. "In our view, the Department of Defense had altered its requirement from being a modernization to one that merely required the replacement of the existing KC-135 aircraft."


In the end, Boeing was able to offer a tanker price below what EADS offered, O'Keefe said, speaking at a news conference.

The Pentagon announced its decision last Thursday, surprising most industry watchers, who expected the deal to go to EADS, citing its lower price and additional capabilities beyond the requirements.

But Chicago-based Boeing lowered its bid. In addition, its 767 platform also met the requirements and would likely have a smaller life-cycle cost, the Air Force said. Read more about the tanker award.

Boeing received an initial fixed-price contract of $3.5 billion to develop and build 18 KC-46A tanker planes to be delivered by 2017. The value of the total program is more than $30 billion -- the first of three phases to eventually replace more than 400 aging KC-135 Stratotankers, some of which are more than 50 years old. Read about some of the risk in the tanker award.

The program could ultimately be worth more than $100 billion after pricing in 50 years of revenue for parts and services.

EADS could come back and bid on the later phases of the program.

Last month marked the third time the Air Force awarded the contract, which was revoked from Boeing in 2004 following a procurement and leasing scandal involving company personnel and Air Force officials.

The contract was handed out a second time in 2008 to EADS and its partner at the time, Northrop Grumman Corp. -- only to lose it after the U.S. Government Accountability Office sided with Boeing's claim that the bidding process had been flawed.

Northrop later dropped out of the competition altogether.

 

2015ish I think for the first jets on the ramp. Planning on a 15 per year buy so it's gonna take a while to come on line in numbers. Some debate last I heard on whether Altus (if that's going to be the FTU) will get a few at first to start training or if it goes straight to AMC with in-house training. My bet is on McConnell or Fairchild as first operational units based on the local congressional support Boeing gets in those states.

 

I heard more like 2017...It was in Aviation Week a few months back

 

Send it to a guard / reserve unit where half of the pilots are probably already 757/767 typed. Overnight you would have an FTU with a qualified cadre of pilots.

But that would save money and we wouldn't want to do that.

 

heard that the tanker will have the 787 cockpit design so the 757/767 type will not help

 

2017 is IOC with a full up squadron available to AMC. Deliveries to commence 2015. 787 cockpit with lots of features that are unavailable/irrelevant to the civilian side. For a tanker, it should be a pretty capable airplane. Lets hope the funding survives the impending budget battle.

 

Let's just hope Altus doesn't get the FTU and they can shut that "hole" down