The Air Force may want to award only one contractor to build its new fleet of air refueling aircraft, so Boeing VP for tankers Mark McGraw told reporters Wednesday. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, McGraw gleaned that insight from reading USAF’s preliminary systems requirements. The Post-Dispatch also notes that “top Pentagon officials” had been considering splitting the buy between Boeing and the Northrop Grumman-EADS team. However, we noted this past spring that the Air Force’s top military acquisition official, Lt. Gen. Donald Hoffman, said it would be less expensive to have just one vendor, at least for the first 100 aircraft.
The Air Force ramped up operations and maintenance spending to keep its F-35A fighters flying over the past six years, but readiness continues to lag behind goals, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.