Last fall, USAF awarded a $1 billion depot maintenance contract for KC-135 tankers to Boeing, but losing competitor Alabama Aircraft Industries (formerly Pemco Aviation Group) says the Government Accountability Office has sustained at least part of its protest. According to various news reports, the GAO found that USAF did not properly evaluate cost/price for the Boeing proposal. GAO recommends a new evaluation. The Air Force has 60 days to decide whether to act on the recommendation.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.