The Air Force has awarded a $3.8 billion contract to perform contractor logistics services for its KC-10 tankers to Northrop Grumman vice Boeing, which produced the KC-10s and has been performing the workload. Boeing plans to review its options and could protest the award, reports New Mexico Business Weekly. In a statement, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) called the contract, which would run nine years and provide 150 to 300 jobs to her state, a “major boon” for the Lake Charles area and was “a show of confidence in the skilled workers of southwest Louisiana.” The contract covers USAF’s 59 KC-10s and two Dutch KDC-10s. In a company statement, Northrop’s technical services sector president James Cameron said, “Our clear focus now is to conduct a flawless phase-in that will facilitate the superior program performance that both the US Air Force and Northrop Grumman demand.
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.