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.”
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.