Boeing Formally Protests US Air Force Tanker Contract Award

On Mar 13, 12:18*am, Jeff Dougherty
wrote:

I believe that the design Boeing offered to the USAF was not the same
as the one currently being built for Italy and Japan- it's based on
the 767-200LRF airframe rather than the 767-200ER. *And while the
airframes themselves have been flying since 2005, they only started
testing the refueling systems last year and none have actually entered
service yet. *First deliveries are supposed to be in the first quarter
of 2008. *It's still been around longer than the A330-MRTT variant,
but the disparity isn't as large as it first appears.

Boeing still has a great deal more experience building tankers, of
course, but I'd hesitate to call either of these designs significantly
more mature than the other.


I recall Boeing's Advanced Tanker was some kind of hybrid, like you
said it's based on the 767-200LRF but it has a different wing. (can't
find a source for this) The 767 has been around longer than the A330
for sure, but I don't think that lessens the risk in developing a
refueler based on that plane. Either airplane would be a huge
improvement over the creaky KC-135 (now I'm reading they may not be in
as bad a shape as was previously believed)