Although the Air Force originally intended the KC-X tanker competition to be a contest between off-the-shelf aircraft designs—to reduce risk and accelerate fielding—Boeing’s NewGen Tanker met the bill, even though it hasn’t flown yet, said Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. “The bottom line is, I don’t think that we necessarily mandated a machine that was flying in every respect,” Schwartz told the Daily Report Feb. 25 during an interview. He added, “Clearly, the [Boeing] 767 is an established platform, as is the [Airbus] A330.” Schwartz said both platforms “passed each of the requirements” that were embedded in the KC-X request for proposal, and “both platforms qualified.” So the Air Force based its choice on “other factors, including mission capability [and] lifecycle costs,” he said.
Active-Duty Airmen only have a few days left to submit an official waist-to-height ratio into the Air Force’s new online application. But the service clarified July 23 that this first body composition measurement is not meant to be scored as part of the new Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, or PFRA