AF Secretary Hopes For First Deliveries By 2011

In a Thursday press conference, AF Secretary Michael Wynne and AF Chief of Staff General T. Michael Moseley said starting in 2011 the AF intends to buy 10 to 15 new tankers a year -- up to 450 planes total.

Most of the USAF's current fleet of 579 tankers are over 40 years old -- the oldest over 50. Nearly 100 of those are slated for retirement by 2010.

Moseley says it's important to get started replacing them because "[Tankers] play a vital role in refueling fighters, bombers and other aircraft flying everyday over Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere."

Flying such old aircraft raises the danger of some unforeseen problem grounding the fleet -- a disastrous situation when the success of so many key missions hinges on the availability of aerial refueling.

Loren Thompson with the Virginia military policy research group Lexington Institute told the New York Times, "The Air Force is extremely concerned that because nobody has ever operated a fleet of jets this long, some design deficiency, like metal fatigue, will ground the fleet making it impossible for them to get places they need to go."

Wynne and Moseley say they'll need $13 billion to start with. Analysts estimate replacing the entire tanker fleet could cost upwards of $100 billion. This year, Congress cut President Bush's request of over $200 million for tanker program research to $70 million.

Tankers derived from commercial aircraft such as Airbus' A330 and Boeing's 767 are at the top of a short list of contenders for the contract. Recently, Boeing added a 777 variant to the list.

The last replacement deal was cancelled amid a procurement scandal. The $23 billion lease proposal for Boeing 767 tankers went sour following a congressional investigation. Several key players in that deal, including a former AF procurement officer, ended up serving jail time.

Wynne says procuring a new tanker is now the service's top priority, adding that tankers, while not sexy, are the "underpinning of America's strategic capabilities."

FMI: www.af.mil