Both Boeing and Northrop Grumman are pulling out all stops to engage politicians and other supporters as they try to capture the Air Force’s KC-X tanker replacement program, now slated for contract award at year’s end. Recent news releases from both companies tout their impact on local economies around the country should they win the competition. Boeing is offering its 767 and says in a release targeting Florida that it would generate more than $45 million annually in economic activity in the state and create an estimated 1,100 direct and indirect jobs. Northrop, which has teamed with EADS North America to offer a version of the Airbus 330 dubbed KC-30, says in a subsequent Florida-targeted release that it would create more than 2,000 new jobs and estimates economic activity for the state at $100 million annually. The Northrop-EADS team plans to produce the tanker in Alabama, while Boeing would produce the airframe in Washington.
Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost—a trailblazer and one of the first 10 women to reach a four-star rank across the U.S. military—retired and passed control of U.S. Transportation Command to Air Force Gen. Randall Reed on Oct. 4, finishing an eventful tenure at TRANSCOM.