American Military News by Marcus Weisgerber - Defense One 4/3/2022
Hammered by several years of losses within its commercial plane-making business, Boeing now stands to gain billions of dollars in defense work if Congress green-lights the Biden administration’s 2023 budget request.
Projects run by the Chicago-based aerospace and defense giant were front and center in the spending proposal sent to lawmakers on Monday. And comments made by senior defense officials hint that even more business could be on the way.
The largest revelation is that Air Force might not hold a competition for its next class of aerial refueling tankers. Instead, the service might just go with a modified version of the KC-46, a Boeing-made aircraft whose development problems have cost the company more than $5 billion.
“As we…look further out, the requirements start to look like a modified KC-46 more than they do a completely new design,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told reporters Friday. “So, we’re working our way through that and finalizing those requirements.”
The Air Force is in the process of buying 179 KC-46 tankers, which are converted Boeing 767 airliners. The full contract is worth about $35 billion. Last year, the Air Force began its search for 160 additional tankers. Lockheed Martin and Boeing’s European-rival Airbus have formed a partnership to pitch a modified A330 airliner, branded the LMXT, the KC-46’s main competitor in the international market.
“I think there’s still a possibility of a competition out there, but as we’ve looked at our requirements, the likelihood of a competition will come down,” Kendall said.
More:
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/04/boeing-poised-to-score-billions-in-bidens-pentagon-budget-request/
