DoD Cancels Refueling Competition, Tankergate Lives On

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates put the kabosh on the Air Force's tanker replacement competition today marking yet another end to yet another chapter in what has got to be one of the biggest black eyes in military procurement history. The program termination is being based on the fact that the DoD won't be able to complete the competition process before the end of the current presidential administration. Now either Obama or McCain will have the pleasure of adopting the red-headed step child that is the KC-X tanker replacement program. Aimed at replacing the venerable KC-135 Stratotanker, the program has been an embarrassment for the current administration for all eight years in office and has even led to the sacking of a few high ranking Air Force officials.

Ironically, McCain is one of the responsible parties from the early days of Tankergate. Since then the Air Force had rehashed the bid process and stunned the nation by awarding a contract to Northrop Grumman/EADS for their KC-45A based on the Airbus A330 airframe back in February. Not going down without a nasty catfight, Boeing filed a formal protest with the GAO citing inconsistencies in the Air Force's decision to select the KC-45A. The GAO accepted the protest and helped push the stop button on the KC-45A program in June. The very next month, the Defense Department said to hell with the Air Force and reopened the competition all over again this time running it straight from that 5-sided building on the Potomac. Things got nastier with some other Air Force SNAFUs and people up high on the chain lost their jobs as a part of this mess. So now it is only appropriate in considering the entire nightmare that has been KC-X for the whole thing to be called off.

"Over the past seven years the process has become enormously complex and emotional - in no small part because of mistakes and missteps along the way by the Department of Defense," says Gates. "It is my judgment that in the time remaining to us, we can no longer complete a competition that would be viewed as fair and objective in this highly charged environment." Now we are forced to sit through a "cooling off" period before the next administration starts their own chapter in what was supposed to be an already late retirement for the KC-135. Anyone really surprised? And yes, I realize that is not the current SecDef. It just really captured the theme of this post.

[Flight Global]

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DoD reopens tanker contract bidding, bypasses Air Force

It shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone that the bidding has reopened for the lucrative aerial tanker contract. Especially after the GAO sustained Boeing's bid protest last month regarding the award given to the team of Northrop Grumman and EADS. What is a bit of a shocker, is that the new competition for the replacement of the KC-135 will not be overseen by the Air Force, as it was before. This time the DoD will run the contest straight from the Pentagon due to an overwhelming lack of confidence in the Air Force to manage the contract. Congressman Norm Dicks (of WA, it should be noted) was quoted as saying "I think it's better. No one has any faith in the Air Force." The GAO report pointed out some "significant errors" made by the Air Force in the original contest and suggested that Boeing might have won the contract if not for these mistakes. Boeing was pitting, and will again, its 767-based refueler against Northrop Grumman's Airbus A330 based tanker. The $35 billion contract will now have a limited rebid by the Pentagon, who claims they will pick a new winner by the end of the year. Meanwhile, a ragged old KC-135 somewhere around the world is begging to be put out of its misery.


(via MSNBC)

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Airbus A400M gets rolled out

EADS rolled out its first Airbus A400M military transport aircraft today in a ceremony at the CASA final assembly plant near Seville, Spain. The rollout brings the $31.3 billion program one step closer to entry into service in 2010. EADS is expecting the first flight of the A400M to take place later this year as they hope to usurp the United States' dominance in exporting long range military transport aircraft. So far seven European launch nations, Malaysia and South Africa have orders on hand for A400M's to join their military transport fleets.




Story and pics via Flight International

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GAO tells Air Force, "not so fast" on new tanker

Of course we always knew it was never really over. In a big victory for Boeing today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a bid protest by the Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer over the Pentagon's decision to select the Northrop Grumman/EADS proposal for the KC-X tanker replacement program. The GAO press release states "the Air Force had made a number of significant errors that could have affected the outcome of what was a close competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman". As if this project has been drawn out enough, the GAO is now proposing the Air Force "reopen discussions with the offerors,obtain revised proposals, re-evaluate the revised proposals, and make a new source selection decision." So instead of preparing to receive their 179 Northrop Grumman KC-45A's to partially replace the fleet of venerable KC-135's, it looks like the Air Force may be back to the drawing board on this one. Of course this decision has thrilled Boeing, who still hopes to supply the Air Force with its 767 based aerial refueler. Northrop Grumman, on the other hand, is still confident they will be producing the Air Force's next tanker, even with the re-evaluation. Round and round we go! I hope those mechanics can keep the 135's together at least another year longer than they were expecting.

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WWII Era fighter crashes on landing at Berlin Air Show

This Messerschmitt Bf-109 was once the scourge of the European skies during WWII. Now it's looking for some new wheels. Owned by EADS, this old German fighter plane had a bit of a boo boo on landing during the Berlin Air Show this week. The video clearly shows the 109 landing gracefully, then losing it in a groundloop when the center of gravity swings that puppy around nearly 270 degrees while ripping off he right main gear. Got to watch those tail wheel landings. They'll get you every time.

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Airbus Files Trijet Patent

Airbus filed a patent application for a commercial trijet aircraft, bringing back all those fond feelings from Boeing's 727, McDonnell Douglas' DC-10, and Lockheed's L1011 -- otherwise known as the ghosts of trijet past. Though some of the above aircraft still operate, airline manufacturers have not designed a trijet in over 20 years due to the increased power, reliability, and efficiency of turbofan engines.

The patent was filed on March 27 and it shows (as you can see above) a new trijet design featuring that distinctive (and not very pretty) noise shielding tail structure. Noise was another reason the trijet faded away, that engine mounted over the rear of the aircraft made the aft passenger cabin rather noisy. Also, the third engine was just another gas guzzler at the time. Airbus seems to think that because they will be able to use three smaller engines as opposed to two larger engines, it will have a competitive fuel burn with any modern two engine aircraft.

Don't go thinking that Airbus will be rolling out the A370 tomorrow or anything, as patents are usually filed to protect a company's engineering designs that may or may not ever take shape in the real world.

Image: Flightglobal

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GAO Throws Out Motions to Dismiss Boeing's Protest Claim

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has decided to review Boeing's protest against the well-known KC-X contract award, while all other parties involved KC-X program continue to bicker over the details of the US Air Force selection process.

One month after the USAF awarded the long term contract for the KC-X program to Northrop Grumman/EADS North America's KC-45A, the GAO rejected separate motions by the Air Force and NG/EADS to throw out Boeing's protest claim. The GAO has until mid-June to adjudge Boeing's case for overturning the contract award. Currently, the GAO is awaiting the USAF's response to Boeing's claims, due on April 16.

Meanwhile, Boeing and NG have teams of lawyers stationed at the GAO's offices reviewing thousands of pages of official USAF documents, seeking to dig up new details to support their respective cases.

Those discoveries have prompted Boeing to submit three updates to its original protest document, submitted in mid-March, which are naturally not being disclosed. Boeing's original protest focused on two points - that the USAF selection team "unfairly" rejected some of Boeing's cost estimates, and that "last-minute" changes to a software-based evaluation model biased the outcome of the competition in favor of NG/EADS offering.

Surely there is more to come in the following days, stay tuned to PointNiner.

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First KC-45 already set for mods?

Very sneaky Northrop Grumman, or should I say...Airbus! After being a bit coy about the current status of any A330 already being prepped for tanker conversion, the team has apparently let the cat out of the bag by indicating that ship D-1, the first KC-45, has already arrived at EADS' passenger-to-cargo conversion shop in Dresden Germany. It had mainly been kept under wraps until late last week due in part to the current protest over the tanker contract award by Boeing. Dresden is just the first stop for D-1. After there it will fly to CASA's Madrid shop for it's refueling systems, then on to Northrop Grumman's Melbourne, Florida facility for defensive systems. All these mods plus assembly should take place at the new Mobile plant when the program finally gets rolling. The KC-45 team is still speculating a 2010 first flight, protest pending. Would it really take that long? Check out the picture below...don't the flags have you fooled?



Photos: Northrop Grumman

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RAF to use new tanker for commercial passengers

In a landmark deal, the Royal Air Force signed a contract with EADS today worth 13 billion pounds for a new fleet of tanker aircraft based on the Airbus A330 to replace its aging fleet of VC-10s and Tristars. The most unique part of this deal though, is that some of the aircraft will be leased by the RAF from EADS' new consortium, AirTanker. And I'm just getting started. Some of the aircraft, while not being used for combat support may be used to transport paying commercial passengers around the world. With an entry into service in 2011, the new tanker, similar to the US Air Force's KC-45, is intended to revolutionize the RAF's strategic and tactical capabilities while making them a little money on the side. I don't know though. Military planes always have that "military" smell in them. I hope the paying passengers don't mind the smell of sweaty man and musky canvas too much.

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Space tourism...brought to you by the makers of the A380

Nuts to Burt Rutan and his SpaceShip 2, this is space tourism Euro-style. Robert Laine, CTO of EADS space division, Astrium, told BBC recently that they intend to create a production line of space planes capable of taking off of regular runways with jet engines. The craft would climb to 40,000 feet where it would then ignite its rocket engine and soar up above 100 km into the vast unknown of space giving their tourist passengers an opportunity to experience weightlessness and nausea. EADS is hoping this will usher in a new generation of travel not soley for tourism. Check out the video below for an idea of what they are expecting.

French Airbus workers unhappy with tanker contract; Make up your mind Frenchy!

Apparently not everyone in France is happy with the US Air Force contract win by Northrop Grumman and Airbus. The union that represents French EADS workers is claiming that the assembly of the KC-45A in Mobile, Alabama will take jobs away from them. First you want us to fly your goofy Europlane, then you're upset when we decide to do it! This is just one reason why many of us (Aaron) wanted to go American from the start. On the other hand, the United Kingdom couldn't be happier with the choice. Now you know why they are our ally.

Somehow I think we'll be posting a lot more on the KC-45 in the near future.