KC-30A for RAAF involved in in-flight incident, refueling boom lost

Australian Aviation has this story about an in-flight incident during a refueling test between the Airbus KC-30A and an F-16. Readers will recall a Boeing KC-767J for Japan Air Defense Services had an incident in which the boom… Read More

Looking ahead for the tanker award

Will it ever end? This is the question about the interminable KC-X tanker competition. Unofficial word is now that the USAF is to announce its award in February, after slipping from January, December, November, October and August. US… Read More

Senate hearing in tanker snafu appropriate

US Sen. Carl Levin announced yesterday that he will hold a hearing by Feb. 1 into the snafu by the USAF over sending Boeing and EADS information about each other’s KC-X tanker submission. We think this is appropriate,… Read More

Odds and ends: Airbus/EADS and Boeing

With Christmas around the corner, here are some year-end thoughts, absent any breaking news of some kind in the week ahead: 737 upgrade: Southwest Airlines continues to pressure Boeing to do something about a more fuel efficient airplane,… Read More

Looking at Boeing in 2011

The Everett (WA) Herald has a good series of articles on Boeing’s outlook in 2011. Start here. Be sure to scroll all the way down to the end of the story; there are six other related links. There… Read More

Outsourcing US Defense

As regular readers know, a major piece of controversy over the prospect of awarding the KC-X contract to EADS North America is the assertion that this will outsource US defense procurement to a foreign company. We’ve noted in… Read More

EADS will likely win tanker, says Boeing consultant

Update, Dec. 9, 5:00 AM PST: Politico has this profile on Loren Thompson. Flight Global reports Brazil may select the KC-45 to replace its Boeing KC-137 (KC-135). Update, 5:00 PM PST: Dominic Gates now has his story on… Read More

USAF, EADS need to come forward with full details

The USAF and EADS need to come forward with full details to fully explain the latest cock-up (a British term, not an obscene one) in which the Air Force mistakenly sent EADS and Boeing proprietary information about the… Read More

Laying the groundwork for a Boeing appeal on KC-X

Update, Dec. 1: George Talbot of The Mobile Press-Register has this interesting interview with Michael Wynne, a former top defense department procurement official, who suggests a solution to the KC-X quandary. Also, at 12:50pm PST: Bloomberg has this… Read More

Snapshot: EADS press conference, mainly on Tanker and USAF faux pas

We attended a press conference today in Washington (DC) with Sean O’Keefe, CEO of EADS North America, that covered a variety of issues but focused mainly on the KC-X tanker competition and most particularly the news last week… Read More