Crs Report for Congress - Air Force Kc-X Tanker Aircraft Program: Background and Issues for Congress: October 23, 2009 - Rl34398 (Paperback)

On September 24, 2009, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced its proposed strategy for conducting a new competition between Boeing and a team consisting of Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS--the parent company of Airbus) for a program to build 179 new KC-X aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. The estimated total value of the 179-aircraft KC-X program is approximately $35 billion. Boeing is expected to offer a KC-X design based on either its 767 or 777 airliner (or two designs, one based on the 767, the other on the 777), while Northrop/EADS is expected to offer a KC-X design based on the Airbus A330 airliner. Boeing would build its KC-X in Seattle, WA, and Wichita, KS, while Northrop/EADS would build its KC-X in a plant that would be established in Mobile, AL. The KC-X acquisition program is a subject of intense interest among supporters of Boeing and Northrop/EADS and other observers because of the dollar value of the contract, the number of jobs it would create, and the importance of tanker aircraft to U.S. military operations, and because previous attempts by DOD to move ahead with a KC-X acquisition program over the last ...