Boeing is on the record that if the Air Force sets additional requirements to presage a best-value solution for its KC-X tanker replacement program, set to restart in the new year, it likely would face a challenge. Reuters news service reports that Boeing chief executive officer James Albaugh said Wednesday that if the service doesn’t “take a very pragmatic view” by limiting requirements and choosing the lowest cost solution, the KC-X program would be “more susceptible to protest.” On the other hand, Boeing’s competitor for the KC-X, Northrop Grumman advocates the opposite, telling the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington earlier this week that a “low-ball” solution would not serve the US military well, reports Reuters. Ronald Sugar, Northrop CEO, urged a “a rapid restart of the program … and that the competition will be conducted as a best value competition very much as the F-22 and the F-35 were conducted … as opposed to just simply a low-ball bid.” Northrop won the original KC-X competition, but Boeing successfully protested. The difficulty of producing a clean result prompted Defense Secretary Robert Gates in September to defer the competition for the next Administration. Of course, now he is to be part of the next Administration.
United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket is slated to fly its second national security mission in February—nearly six months after its first operational launch and almost a year after it was certified to fly military payloads for the Space Force.
