Orlando Sentinel January 12, 2009
Air Force tanker deal falls off radar for now
By Richard Burnett
In a move that would make magician David Copperfield proud, the Air Force's $35 billion refueling tanker seems to have disappeared. After becoming a major story in 2008, the fiercely contested megadeal to build the advanced tanker plane has fallen out of public view.
And with the new administration coming in, some defense experts question whether the expensive new tanker fleet will ever be built -- much to the chagrin of Central Florida's defense industry.
"Frankly, I hope the tanker deal is one thing that does not survive the transition," said John Pike, president of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense-research firm. "Basically, there's really nothing wrong with the existing KC-135 tankers, and any case for replacing them is completely made up."
Don't tell that to Northrop Grumman Corp. and Boeing Co., rivals for the lucrative deal. They say replacing the 50-year-old tankers is long overdue. It's just a matter of which plane works best.
© Copyright 2009, Orlando Sentinel
