Eager to get in the game for the next Air Force tanker, the Northrop Grumman-EADS team said Tuesday that it had submitted its KC-30 offering ahead of the April 12 request for proposal response date. In a company statement, Scott Seymour, corporate VP, said the KC-30, an Airbus 330 derivative, would provide everything USAF has asked for and more—“more refueling capacity, more versatility against an uncertain future, more capability, and more value per aircraft.” The statement also noted that the Northrop-led team’s proposal was the culmination of more than 2.5 years of work. And, Northrop claims its KC-30 tanker “meets or exceeds Air Force requirements for every key performance parameter far better than any competitor.”
All 12 American bombers deployed in Britain rapidly returned to the U.S. on Oct. 4 following security concerns about a potential Iranian threat to their base in the U.K.