Elected officials from Alabama traveled to Washington Friday to discuss the KC-X aerial refueling replacement aircraft program with Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne. George Talbot of the Press-Register reports that Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Mobile) wanted to ensure USAF consider the Northrop Grumman-EADS North America contender—the KC-30—“on merit, not politics.” The Northrop-EADS team plans to build a KC-30 plant in Alabama. The Friday meeting apparently got its start at the Paris Air Show, where Wynne ran into the Alabama delegation. A release from Bonner’s office says that Riley, Bonner, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) and other officials were in France for a “transatlantic economic development mission.” Bonner added, “Obviously we have a lot at stake and a lot riding on Alabama’s developing aerospace industry.” If Boeing wins the KC-X contract, its KC-767 would be built in Everett, Wash.
In the wake of a major Chinese military shakeup, the head of U.S. Space Command warned of China’s “breathtakingly fast” advances in space during visits to Japan and South Korea. Gen. Stephen N. Whiting’s trip to the Indo-Pacific is his first overseas visit since taking command of SPACECOM in January.