EADS 
North America announced Monday that the Air Force has debriefed it on the service’s KC-X tanker decision. Armed with this new knowledge, it now rests with the company to decide whether to appeal the Air Force’s tanker contract award to Boeing, or to allow the decision to stand. “The EADS North America team has met with the Air Force, received a debriefing, and is evaluating the information presented to us,” said Guy Hicks, EADS North America spokesman. He added, “Our objective has always been that the US warfighter receive the most capable tanker, following a fair and transparent competition. That remains our position today.” Last week, the Air Force selected Boeing’s 767-based NewGen Tanker over EADS’ A330-based KC-45 to replace the service’s oldest KC-135s. Explaining the decision last week, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said service evaluators judged that Boeing’s tanker would be more than 1 percent lower in price than EADS’. Further, Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn called Boeing “a clear winner.”
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
