Boeing to bow out of Tanker Wars?
A Guy Called Tyketto
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Aviation Week and Reuters are both reporting that Boeing, after
crying foul with the GAO over the previous USAF tanker bid, may bow out
of bidding for the USAF contract this time.
They may be playing hardball, since Northrop-Grumman/EADS
played the same card during the previous bidding, so they would also be
given a fair shot at the contract. Since the Pentagon seems to be
preferring the larger tanker (A330 model), Boeing may be playing the
same hardball that EADS did.
It appears that least one person in Congress, prefers the EADS
bid: The new criteria "appear to favor a tanker larger than any
real-world scenarios would require," said Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington
state Democrat and Boeing backer last week, implying that it would
favor the larger plane offered by Northrop/EADS.
If Boeing drops out, the image of 'level playing field and fair
competition' would be lost, and would make the Pentagon Congress, the
USAF, and GAO all look bad.
BL.
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Brad Littlejohn | Email: tyk...@sbcglobal.net
Unix Systems Administrator, | tyk...@ozemail.com.au
Web + NewsMaster, BOFH.. Smeghead! :) | http://www.wizard.com/~tyketto
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JF Mezei
> It appears that least one person in Congress, prefers the EADS
> bid: The new criteria "appear to favor a tanker larger than any
> real-world scenarios would require," said Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington
> state Democrat and Boeing backer last week, implying that it would
> favor the larger plane offered by Northrop/EADS.
The way I see it:
When Boeing saw the new RFP draft, it saw that it still favoured the
330, so now it is playing hardball in the hopes it can have the RFP
changed before it is made formal.
How would a 777 based tanker fare against the 330 ? Would its operating
costs be roughly the same as the 330 with equal payload (but with
ability to carry even more) ?
I find it interesting that Boeing would be so intent on pushing a dead
767 ? Would Boeing be able to take discarded pax 767s, refit them as
tankers and reset their clocks to 0 in terms of structure fatigue etc ?
Or would the tankers require brand spanking new 767s be built ?
.
A Guy Called Tyketto
Hash: SHA1
JF Mezei <jfmezei...@vaxination.ca> wrote:
>
> The way I see it:
>
> When Boeing saw the new RFP draft, it saw that it still favoured the
> 330, so now it is playing hardball in the hopes it can have the RFP
> changed before it is made formal.
>
> How would a 777 based tanker fare against the 330 ? Would its operating
> costs be roughly the same as the 330 with equal payload (but with
> ability to carry even more) ?
Boeing has that option, and made it publicly clear that it was
so back in 2006, after initially offering the KC-767 as a replacement
for the KC-135s:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/286578_air27.html
But for some reason, they opted to offer the equivalent of a
B767-200LRF two years later. The problem that would come up with
offering the B777, is that Boeing also wanted it to haul cargo and/or
personnel. Perhaps they totally forgot about it, or scrubbed the entire
idea altogether?
> I find it interesting that Boeing would be so intent on pushing a dead
> 767 ? Would Boeing be able to take discarded pax 767s, refit them as
> tankers and reset their clocks to 0 in terms of structure fatigue etc ?
>
> Or would the tankers require brand spanking new 767s be built ?
It looks like they'd have to be new planes. I don't know how
much of a refit you could give a B767-200 to turn into a KC767-200LRF.
But if it is size the USAF is looking for, and the B767/KC767 is too
small, Boeing would have no choice but to go KC777LRF, or go home.
BL.
- --
Brad Littlejohn | Email: tyk...@sbcglobal.net
Unix Systems Administrator, | tyk...@ozemail.com.au
Web + NewsMaster, BOFH.. Smeghead! :) | http://www.wizard.com/~tyketto
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