Air Force prepares request for replacement refueling tankers

The Air Force is expected to solicit bids for its long sought-after replacement fleet of aerial refueling tankers next week, but some lawmakers with a stake in the program are concerned the service will unfairly skew the competition in favor of Boeing Co., maker of the existing tanker fleet.

The $20 billion program to replace the Air Force's 50-year-old fleet of tankers has been expected to pit Boeing against Northrop Grumman Corp., which is teaming up with Airbus, the European manufacturing consortium, to produce the planes at a new plant in Mobile, Ala.

Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Thursday that he has "grave concerns" about the final requirements the Air Force will spell out in its solicitation next week and would seek legislative redress if Northrop Grumman does not have a "fair chance" at the contract.

The Air Force, Sessions added, will have to defend its decisions "in the light of day" if the requirements appear to favor Boeing.

After reviewing two drafts of tanker requirements that the Air Force released last year, Northrop Grumman officials threatened to bow out of the competition if the formal request for proposals gives Boeing the upper hand.

The officials have been concerned they would not get credit for proposing the KC-30, a larger, more capable and probably more expensive plane than Boeing's likely offering of a KC-767, a modified 767 passenger plane.

Northrop Grumman chief executive Ronald Sugar told analysts on a conference call Thursday that he would wait to determine whether to bid on the contract until he saw the Air Force's requirements.

Sessions would not comment on specific legislative actions he may take, but noted that Congress was able to halt the Air Force's original plans to lease KC-767 planes from Boeing.

"It appeared the original lease agreement that turned out to be so controversial was a done deal and it got reversed," Sessions said.

But lawmakers have a number of tools at their disposal to guide or change the program, including holding oversight hearings, adding binding language to the annual defense authorization bill and -- most drastically -- cutting funding for the program.

In the rush to acquire new planes in 2003, the Air Force tried to lease Boeing KC-767s before reviewing other options. The $23.5 billion deal collapsed after congressional critics, led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., forced the Pentagon to weigh alternatives to the Boeing aircraft.

The lease deal turned into the biggest Pentagon procurement scandal in more than two decades, prompting the resignation of Air Force Secretary James Roche and convictions of two Boeing executives, ex-Air Force acquisition official Darleen Druyun and Michael Sears, the firm's chief financial officer.

McCain, now ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has closely watched the Air Force's actions on the tanker deal and sent a letter late last year to Defense Secretary Gates emphasizing that the request for proposals must allow for a fair and open competition.

McCain would not comment Thursday on the Air Force's plans, saying that he will discuss the matter "as soon as I see the proposal."

An Air Force spokesman said the service is not trying to block Northrop Grumman from competing.

"We would like if there were 50 proposals," the spokesman added. "Competition is a good thing."

For its part, Boeing has not formally committed to a platform to replace the aging KC-135 tanker jet now in use, and could offer a larger plane if the final requirement changes.

"The Air Force is going through a process and it's their process," a Boeing spokesman said. "They own it and they're responsible for it."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., one of Boeing's strongest supporters in Congress, said Thursday that the Air Force's process has been above board. She also stressed the need to replace the 1950s-era planes as quickly as possible. "The Air Force is crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' to put out an RFP to get the tankers that they need," she said.