US Department of Defense, PARIS: In a stunning upset, Northrop Grumman and EADS have beaten Boeing to win a $35 billion, 25-year contract to provide 179 KC-45A tanker aircraft to the US Air Force. The aircraft are derived from the Airbus A330 commercial airframe.
The initial contract, worth $1.5 billion, will cover development and initial procurement of four aircraft, with options for procurement of the first 64 production aircraft in several lots, at a cost of $10.6 billion. Follow-on procurement of 110 production aircraft, split into several production lots and worth $35 billion, will follow over a period of 25 years, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition Sue C. Payton told reporters during a news conference at the Pentagon Friday afternoon. Additional costs will be incurred for sustainment and support, increasing the program’s value beyond the stated $35 billion, she said.
These initial 179 KC-Xs will be followed “in a few years” by a separate competitive program, dubbed KC-Y, that will ultimately fund procurement of several hundred additional tankers, Payton said.
Gen. Arthur J. Lichte, commander of Air Mobility Command, said that the Northrop/EADS KC-30 had been chosen because it offered “more cargo, more fuel offload, more passengers and more availability.” He and Payton denied that cost was a significant factor in the decision, and deferred further questions until Boeing had been fully debriefed on the decision.
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