Gen. Michael Moseley, USAF Chief of Staff, believes there ultimately could be two winners in the service’s tanker replacement program. It’s likely the first batch of 179 aircraft would go to one competitor—either Boeing’s smaller KC-767 or the Northrop Grumman-EADS team’s larger KC-30, but Moseley told reporters during a Foreign Press Center briefing Feb. 21 that “down the road” USAF could go “to a mixed fleet” of both smaller and larger tankers. There is precedence since the service currently operates a two-sized tanker fleet, with the KC-135 and KC-10. The Air Force plans to hold subsequent competitions as it works to replace its entire current tanker fleet. Reuters news service quotes Moseley, “So there will be a continual set of opportunities for both companies to compete.”
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
