The Air Force opened the door to contract aerial refueling operations and Omega Air stepped on through. Omega beat the deadline for responses to USAF’s request for information by announcing June 9 that it would serve up 60 modified DC-10s to fill the service’s tanking requirements, reports Dow Jones Newswires. This is not a new field for Omega, which currently provides contract refueling for Navy and Marine Corps aircraft using a Boeing 707 airframe. As far as we know, Omega is the only company that has offered to provide refueling service vice selling or leasing tanker aircraft to the Air Force.
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.