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Washington (AFP) Nov 23, 2010 The chief of the US Air Force on Tuesday said two officials had been removed from a refueling tanker program after the wrong documents were sent out to aerospace rivals bidding on the huge contract. "Clearly this was a disappointment, a profound disappointment," General Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, said of the embarrassing episode. He said two individuals working on the program have been "removed" and will be held responsible for the document mix-up, but he said the competition had not been undermined and would go ahead as planned. The Air Force sent the wrong letters this month to Boeing and EADS, which are vying for the lucrative contract to build a new fleet of refueling tanker planes. The information related to "an efficiency analysis" of the aircraft proposed by Boeing and EADS, which looked at how many tankers would be required to carry out a particular air refueling scenario, he said. But the general insisted no pricing or proprietary information was revealed in the "inadvertent disclosure." "We have gone through an internal and independent review of what occurred. As a result, over the last 24 hours or so, we have endeavored to ensure we have a level playing field between the two offerers," Schwartz told reporters. He also said the mix-up was not the reason behind a delay in a final decision for the 35-billion-dollar contest. A final award had been scheduled in November or December but is now promised for early next year. The document foul-up is the latest setback for the politically-charged contest for the tanker, which has been marked by scandal and intense lobbying in Congress. The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), the parent company of France-based Airbus, and US giant Boeing are in a bidding war for the deal to replace 179 aerial refueling tankers in an aging Boeing-built fleet. In 2008, EADS in partnership with Northrop Grumman won the contract for the tankers, but the deal was canceled after a successful Boeing appeal to the investigative arm of Congress. Northrop has dropped out in the latest contest. US Air Force commanders see the planned KC-X aircraft as crucial to bolstering American air power and are anxious to replace the older Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers that date back to the 1950s.
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Poland to host U.S. jets and C-130sWarsaw, Poland (UPI) Nov 22, 2010 A senior military official in Poland says the U.S. Air Force will deploy F-16 jet fighters and C-130 Hercules transport planes in the country by 2013. "Poland has decided to accept the U.S. proposal of hosting rotations of F-16 and Hercules aircraft and their crews" on its territory, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Kilch told his country's TOK FM commercial radio station. "I hope this wi ... read more |
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