Adding to the list of upcoming Congressional oversight hearings on the Air Force’s KC-X tanker program, the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee yesterday announced plans to convene on July 10 in open session to discuss the issue. The scheduled witnesses are Pentagon acquisition boss John Young and Air Force acquisition executive Sue Payton as well as Gary Kepplinger, general counsel at the Government Accountability Office, and Michael Golden, GAO’s procurement law guru. In the wake of GAO’s ruling last month that upheld Boeing’s protest of USAF’s $35 billion KC-X tanker award to Northrop Grumman in February, lawmakers have been mobilizing to monitor developments more closely. Already the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has scheduled a tanker hearing on July 15.
The Air Force displayed all the firepower it has amassed on Okinawa in an unusually diverse show of force this week. IIn a May 6 “Elephant Walk,” Kadena Air Base showcased 24 F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters, eight F-15E Strike Eagles; two U.S. Army Patriot anti-missile batteries near the runway; and…