Tanker Truths

24 Apr 2008
Boeing Attacks U.S. Air Force in Washington Post Advertisement
Boeing again appears to be attacking the U.S. Air Force's competence in a full-page ad in today's Washington Post, in which the losing bidder challenges the military's decision that Northrop Grumman had the superior bid for building America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.

In the ad, Boeing alleges that its protest of that decision "focuses on numerous and significant inconsistencies in the application of evaluation criteria" that resulted in "the selection of a tanker that offers less capability...and one that comes with far greater risks and costs."

In fact, as the Air Force has made clear, it found Northrop Grumman's bid superior on four of the five major evaluation criteria. Sue Payton, the Air Force's chief acquisition officer, explained her decision this way: "In my judgment, Northrop Grumman's...aircraft offers significant advantage in the important areas of aerial refueling and airlift and represents superior value to the government."

Boeing's ad goes on to allege that Northrop Grumman's plane is risky because the earliest deliveries would be partly assembled in different European cities.

But in fact, the Air Force decided that Boeing presented a higher risk; its plane hasn't been built and would be a never-before-constructed hybrid of several different aircraft models. Boeing is also late on delivering tankers to Italy and Japan.

By contrast, Northrop Grumman's plane has been built, flown and tested, and its ability to transfer fuel through its boom has also successfully been tested. The Air Force also noted that Northrop Grumman could deliver more planes by 2013 than Boeing, and that the flexibility of Northrop Grumman's aircraft meant the contract could be completed with fewer aircraft.

And while the ad discusses Boeing's experience in producing tankers, the company hasn't constructed a new tanker for the Air Force since 1966. In addition, five separate countries have selected the KC-30 tanker design that is the basis for the Northrop Grumman KC-45 over Boeing's proposed tanker.

Boeing's ad concludes with an indictment of the selection process - a process Boeing officials repeatedly praised until Northrop Grumman was declared the winner.

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