Big Boeing Tanker Charge

Boeing announced a second-quarter charge of $536 million on its KC-46 tanker on Friday, chalking up the additional costs as needed to fix problems with the jet’s integrated fuel system. Boeing is developing the tanker under a $4.9 billion program...

Boeing’s Tanker Overage up to $808 Million

It looks like the government was more accurate than Boeing last year when it estimated the KC-46 tanker program would cost a billion dollars more to develop than Boeing’s fixed-price contract bid. Boeing’s announcement of a second-quarter charge of $536...

…And the Air Force’s Response

The Air Force sees “no showstoppers” as a result of Boeing’s announcement of a major charge against earnings with its KC-46 tanker program. In a statement, Brig. Gen. Duke Richardson, Air Force program executive officer for tankers at the USAF...

Who Will Win the Bomber Contract?

The Pentagon is in the eleventh hour of evaluating proposals from Boeing and Northrop Grumman for the Long-Range Strike Bomber contract. Both teams have the skills to build the aircraft, but will technical proposals be the only consideration? Pentagon acquisition,...

Because No One Should Have to Pronounce Eyjafjallajökull

Testers at Edwards AFB, Calif., are blasting volcanic ash through a C-17’s Pratt & Whitney F117 engines to test if, and how, aircraft could safely skirt eruption plumes. An Icelandic volcano in 2010 caused the Air Force to reroute flights...

First Iraqi F-16s Arrive at Balad

The first four Iraqi Air Force F-16s ferried to Iraq-proper arrived at Balad AB, Iraq, on July 13, Turkey’s Daily Sabah reported. Due to Iraq’s shaky security situation, Iraqi F-16 pilots are undergoing training with the Arizona Air National Guard’s...

Conditional Support for McCain Acquisition Reform Plan

A current top Pentagon acquisition official and a former acquisition chief opposed Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain’s proposal to shift major powers from the assistant secretary for acquisition to the service chiefs. Speaking during a Center for...

Airmen Teach Hungarians Air-to-Air Refueling

Airmen from the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall, England, and Swedish air force personnel collaborated with their Hungarian counterparts recently to train at Kecskemét AB, Hungary, where the Hungarians learned how to perform air-to-air refueling for the first...

AFA Takes Stance on Retirement Reform

The Air Force Association will continue to pay “close attention” as the Defense Department implements recommendations from the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission to “ensure the benefit does not diminish or damage the very recruitment and retention tool we...