New Tanker Could Be a Long Wait:

Gen. Norton Schwartz is urging a quick march toward a new tanker (DR 12/08/05), yet Boeing—probably the prime contender—is sounding decidedly pessimistic about how quickly the process will move. Jim Albaugh, a top Boeing official, has no doubt that his company will be in the running—no matter the aircraft requirements—he just doesn’t see the program producing a KC-135 replacement for at least 10 years. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Albaugh told a crowd of Wall Street analysts Thursday, “If and when they [Pentagon] define their requirements, we’ll be there with a small airplane, a medium-size airplane, or a large airplane.” He continued, “At the rate we’re [Pentagon working with defense industry] going, we’re not going to have a new tanker delivered until 2015 or 2016.” Albaugh wasn’t done. He said that he’s “a little skeptical” there will be a tanker program. Who can blame him