Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has been one of the most vocal critics of Boeing and the Air Force over the failed tanker aircraft lease arrangement and other assorted programs linked to former USAF acquisition official Darleen Druyun, now appears to have accepted an ethics-reborn Boeing. At a Senate Armed Services hearing Monday to review the Justice Department’s $615 million settlement with Boeing, McCain lauded Boeing’s decision to refrain from taking tax deductions on the settlement, saying that decision coupled with the company’s internal ethics and management changes (read Boeing head James McNerney Jr. statement) demonstrate “how serious” Boeing is in “truly reforming and starting fresh.” Still, McCain did question some of the fine points of the settlement.
A new think tank analysis finds a hypothetical blended-wing body tanker could offer twice as much refueling performance as the KC-46A Pegasus and recommends the Air Force buy scores of them, as the service prepares to evaluate a BWB demonstrator next year and must juggle its future tanker plans with…