Tanker Facts

 

Current Status of Competition

 

  • Companies are due to submit bids for the tanker competition in July, 2010 with an award expected in October, 2010
  • EADS previously partnered with Northrop Grumman in the tanker competition. Northrop, however, decided not to bid in March, 2010 after stating that the proposed specifications favored Boeing’s smaller and less capable plane.
  • The request for proposals contains a scoring system that places the same importance on hundreds of aspects of the tanker. Therefore, the quality of on board bathrooms are as important as how much fuel can be carried and transferred
  • Some military analysts claim the draft RFP calls for a tanker no more technologically advanced than the 50-year-old tankers in use today.

 

History of Competition

 

  • 2003. The Pentagon approves $23.5 billion Air Force plan to lease, and then buy, Boeing 767 tankers.
  • 2004. Congress terminates lease deal after the Air Force's No. 2 acquisition official and Boeing’s CFO are sentenced to federal prison on ethics and corruption charges
  • 2006. Procurement of aerial refueling tankers resumed
  • 2008. EADS and Northrop Grumman’s KC-45A is selected by the U.S. Air Force after the most rigorous, fair, and transparent acquisition process in Department of Defense history. The award was later cancelled after Boeing successfully appealed on several minor procedural matters – none dealing with the quality of the tankers.
  • 2009. New competition begins
 
The EADS KC-45A is good for America's industrial base

 

  • The EADS KC-45A tanker will support more than 50,000 NEW AMERICAN JOBS.
  • Assembly and militarization of the KC-45A tanker will take place in Mobile, Alabama, resulting in the creation of 2,000 jobs there.
  • The EADS KC-45A tanker program will create a new aerospace manufacturing corridor in the southeastern United States thereby broadening and strengthening the U.S. aerospace industry and protecting the taxpayer by fostering competition.
  • The EADS KC-45A tanker program will create tens of thousands of jobs across the United states of America
  • The EADS KC-45A tanker program DOES NOT TRANSFER ANY JOBS FROM THE UNITED STATES to France or any other foreign country.
 
The EADS KC-45A is vitally important to the U.S. Air Force:

 

  • Air refueling tankers are a vital component to national security.
  • The existing fleet of Eisenhower-era KC-135s is older than any other force element currently in the U.S. Air Force inventory.
  • The U.S. Air Force established the KC-135 aerial refueling tanker replacement program as its number one acquisition priority. We simply cannot expect our airmen to forever defend our national interests with aging aircraft.
  • "From deploying and employing American combat power from all the services rapidly anywhere in the world, to providing disaster relief and humanitarian supplies around the globe, these tankers will provide the air bridge for the United States to defend our national interest and assist our friends anywhere on the planet," -- U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne.
  • "Recapitalization of our Air Force's jet tanker inventory is long overdue. Air refuelers are a single point of failure in modern military operations. Across the spectrum of what we do, we absolutely rely on the capabilities they give to us," -- U.S. Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Duncan McNabb.
 
The EADS KC-45A is a Superior Product

 

  • The first EADS KC-45A tanker aircraft was built and flown in September 2007.
  • The EADS KC-45A Aerial Refueling Boom System has completed rigorous testing and has completed in-flight fuel transfer.
  • The EADS KC-45A is based upon the Royal Australian Air Force KC-30B Multi-role Tanker, which was delivered on time and has been built, flown and tested.
  • The KC-45 is a version of the same tanker that has won the last five head-to-head tanker competitions against Boeing 767-based tankers.  A total of 28 EADS tankers currently are in development for America’s allies.
  • The KC-45’s advanced refueling systems have been demonstrated and qualified in a full range of operational conditions, unlike Boeing’s proposed systems.  Its all-electric, fly-by-wire Aerial Refueling Boom System (ARBS) delivers fuel at 1,200 gallons per minute. The KC-45’s all-digital hose-and-drogue refueling pods are the most modern in service today. Boeing has yet to successfully deliver on its promised capabilities on the 767 platform.
  • In addition to having the world’s most advanced aerial refueling technology, the KC-45 offers a fuselage maximized for both passenger and cargo payloads, without giving up any of its superior refueling capacity.
 
“Foreign” Content
 
  • All modern jetliners are built from a global supplier base and both the KC-45A and Boeing’s 767-based tanker are no exceptions.
  • The EADS KC-45A will include approximately 60 percent U.S. content, only slightly less than Boeing’s proposed tanker
  • There are numerous examples of transatlantic cooperation on vital U.S. military programs, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the VH-71 Presidential helicopter and the C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft program.
  • No sensitive military technology will be exported to Europe. For the KC-45A program, a commercial A330 jetliner will be assembled by American workers in EADS's facility in Mobile. The aircraft will then undergo military conversion in an adjacent facility, where all of the critical military technology will be added.
  • EADS is proud of its track record of providing the American military with superior, made-in-America aircraft, on schedule and on budget. EADS currently supply the U.S. Army and Navy with the American-produced, highly successful UH-72 Lakota helicopter, recognized by the Defense Department as one of just five model acquisition programs.
  • EADS contributes more than $11 billion annually to the U.S. economy, and supports more than 200,000 American jobs through an expansive network of suppliers and services.