The second of Australia’s new A330-based tankers touched down at Dover AFB, Del., on Oct. 29 for a stopover during its long journey from Australia to Spain, where it will undergo military certification testing. This aircraft stopped the previous day at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. The Royal Australian Air Force has ordered five new tankers from EADS, which are “nearly identical in configuration” to the tanker that Northrop Grumman’s team is offering the US Air Force in the KC-X competition, EADS said in a release. “The arrival on our shores of a fully-equipped tanker for an allied nation is yet another demonstration that the Northrop Grumman team is ready now with a low-risk solution,” said Ralph Crosby, EADS North America’s Chairman and CEO, looking to the US contest.
The Air Force on March 12 awarded contract modifications worth a combined $2.4 billion to Boeing to procure an undisclosed number of E-7 Wedgetail as part of the program's engineering and manufacturing development phase and continue work on the airborne battle management aircraft’s radar.