New AF Tanker Still Up in the Air

[unhappycamper]

New AF Tanker Still Up in the Air
November 07, 2008
Dayton Daily News

Established, major weapons programs likely are to get continued funding during President-elect Barack Obama's administration, but it could be 2010 before a contractor is chosen for the aerial refueling tanker aircraft the Air Force says it badly needs, a defense industry analyst said.

Reliability of funding for established programs would be good news for the Air Force, which has been directed by the Defense Department to step up the battlefield deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles. The Defense Department also is counting on a steady supply of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters which are to modernize the warplane fleets of the Air Force, Navy, Marines and U.S. allies.

Obama made it clear during the presidential campaign that he supports modernizing the American military, said Loren Thompson, an analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. That includes buying more C-17 transport aircraft and proceeding with the stalled program the Air Force has requested to buy new refueling tankers to replace the 50-year-old KC-135 tankers now in use, Thompson said Wednesday, Nov. 5.

The fiscal year 2010 defense budget that the Bush administration has shaped and will leave to Obama envisions that a supplier of the tankers won't be chosen until 2010, unless Obama makes that a higher priority, Thompson said. The competition stalled last year after federal auditors concluded the Air Force made mistakes in conducting the competition and Congress opposed the choice of a team that included the parent company of French aircraft maker Airbus.

Analysts and others have projected that, no matter who won the election, more money for the defense budget isn't likely because of the ballooning federal budget deficit, the expense of the $700 billion bailout of the nation's banking system, and other demands.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/new-af-tanker-still-up-in-the-air.html?col=1186032310810