Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), staunch Boeing proponent in the heated KC-X tanker debate on Capital Hill, says the Defense Department will “favor a larger sized aircraft” in the revised solicitation that DOD plans to issue later this month or in August. In a statement issued by his office on July 9, Dicks makes the claim that Pentagon acquisition czar John Young told him that the updated criteria will assign “additional credit to a bigger plane.” This would seemingly put Boeing at a disadvantage since its KC-767 is comparatively smaller than Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 that is based on the Airbus A330 airframe. The KC-30 was chosen in the original contest, which is now being redone due to Boeing’s successful legal protest. “I am concerned that the department is trying to find a new way to justify selecting the larger Airbus tanker again, even though there is no current operational requirement for a larger refueling tanker,” writes Dicks, noting that he will oppose this idea.
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
