AF won't be forced into tanker fight

WASHINGTON: Early morning June 23, House Armed Services Committee representatives pushed back an effort to force the Air Force to hold an open competition for its next aerial refueling aircraft that likely would pit current tanker builder Boeing against Airbus. During the committee’s markup of the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, two lawmakers offered competing amendments seeking to shape the Air Force’s next tanker procurement effort, called a bridge tanker or KC-Y. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) offered the winning amendment to allow the AF to sole source a bridge tanker if it follow existing laws and explains it to the committee. His amendment beat out a proposal from Rep Jerry Carl (R-Ala), who sought to restrict all FY23 funding for a bridge tanker if the AF chose to sole-source the contract. Norcross argued that it is important to allow the AF to finish generating requirements for KC-Y before mandating it open competition for the program. But Carl stated that the AF should not be considering purchasing the Boeing KC-46 through a sole-source contract when the tanker has not overcome its technical problems and is not yet fully operational. “We cannot let the DoD, the Air Force, any branch of the government to continue to run away with our checkbook,” he said. “They have to be responsible.” Carl's amendment would have prevented the Air Force from awarding any contract for its bridge tanker “unless such contract is awarded using full and open competition.” That provision came in response to AF Secretary Frank Kendall’s remarks that the likelihood of a competition for the KC-Y "has declined" as the Air Force has done more work on the program. When the AF wraps up procurement of 179 KC-46s, currently in production by Boeing in Seattle, it plans to buy up to 160 KC-Ys. The AF has stated it would only consider non-developmental options - resulting in a contest between rivals Boeing and Airbus, the latter of which in 2021 announced it would partner with Lockheed Martin to offer an American-built version of the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport called the LMXT. Whether the amendment makes it into the final defense policy bill will be determined when the House and Senate armed services committees move through the conference process later this summer. (Source: Breaking Defense 06/23/22) HASC won't force the Air Force to hold a bridge tanker competition... this year - Breaking Defense (Gulf Coast Note: Rep. Carl's district includes the Airbus manufacturing facilities in Mobile, Ala..)