Procurement remains on hold pending investigations
The US Air Force's proposed lease/ purchase deal for 100 Boeing 767 tankers appears increasingly unlikely to continue as planned, but congressional opposition is growing against any move to allow rival Airbus to contest the requirement.
A US Department of Defence inspector general audit to be released this week is understood to conclude that the air force "should not proceed" with the deal, until it addresses several violations of contracting rules. It is also expected to reveal that the service used "an inappropriate procurement strategy" when negotiating the contract. The deal will remain on hold until a further four investigations are completed.
The air force expects to complete an analysis of alternatives ordered by the DoD by August. It is also programming money, beginning in fiscal year 2006, "to conduct a KC-X tanker replacement programme", says USAF secretary James Roche.
The findings of the inspector general report will make a traditional competitive procurement more likely, having determined that the USAF relied heavily on Boeing's figures to determine the costs of the basic aircraft, tanker conversions and maintenance. The audit is expected to reveal that aircraft prices could have been overstated, and the maintenance costs underestimated, by several hundred million dollars.
Washington representative Norm Dicks warns that laws could be introduced in Congress to exclude foreign companies from future tanker deals, and says Airbus should be banned from bidding because it receives subsidies from European governments. Alaskan senator Ted Stevens says delaying the USAF's 767 tanker deal will "engender the growth of foreign-constructed tankers to meet our needs", which he says would be a "disservice" to the USA. EADS intends to offer a US-assembled Airbus A330 tanker, if it is allowed to compete.
The USAF says leasing will allow it to field 80 KC-767As by 2010 - the date it would receive its first aircraft under a normal KC-X procurement. The USAF still expects to replace its 550 Boeing KC-135s with around 400 widebody tankers over 20 or so years, says Roche.
GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
