Air Force will release tanker RFP on Wednesday

The Air Force plans to release on Wednesday its much-anticipated request for proposals on its new aerial refueling program, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said on Tuesday.

During testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Donley said that he, Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn and Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter would brief lawmakers on the RFP. The next-generation refueling program will replace the Eisenhower-era KC-135s in the Air Force fleet.

Pentagon officials have said they hope to award a contract this summer for the program, which is the Air Force's top procurement priority.

Boeing Co. and a team led by Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS have been vying for the contract, estimated to be worth as much as $40 billion. But Northrop officials have threatened to back out unless the Air Force makes significant changes to the draft RFP, which they believe favors the smaller plane offered by Boeing.

Defending the Air Force procurement process, Donley said the draft RFP did not favor either offer.

Donley also told lawmakers that the decision to end production of a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was a "close call" and one of the "most difficult issues" the service addressed in its budget negotiations.

Officials ultimately decided that continuing the General Electric/Rolls Royce alternate engine program was unaffordable, Donley said. The Obama administration also tried to cancel the program last year, without success.

After months of analysis, service officials determined that to develop and maintain the engine would require "considerable" additional investment, Donley told the panel on Tuesday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned Congress he would recommend that President Obama veto any defense bill that continues funding for the alternate engine. Lawmakers last year added $465 million to the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations bill to continue the unwanted program.

Donley said that Air Force officials were preparing more information, including details on their analysis, and would send it to Capitol Hill "very soon."

Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz, meanwhile, warned that continuing the alternate engine program could jeopardize budgets for the F-35, the largest program on the Pentagon's books. "That is not a good scenario for the Air Force or the Department of Defense," he said.

But lawmakers appeared steadfast in their support for the second engine, which they have argued would foster competition and ultimately drive down costs and improve the product.

Armed Services Air and Land Subcommittee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., said he was "frankly puzzled" by the Defense Department's position and Gates' veto threat.

"If you're going to get to the point where 95 percent of the Air Force's fighter attack airplanes are F-35s, history shows us that relying on one engine puts us in a very bad spot," Smith said.

Smith added he believes the additional costs are negligible, but said the worst-case scenario would add $1 billion to the program's cost.