Despite a slew of news reports to the contrary over the weekend quoting a US lawyer ostensibly representing Russia’s United Aircraft Company and an unidentified US contractor, there will be no Russian entrant in USAF’s KC-X tanker replacement program. RIA Novosti news service reported Monday that UAC issued a statement, saying the claims are “false.” Further, Alexey Fedorov, UAC president, said in the statement, “The UAC does not plan either to take part in this tender or set up a joint venture.”
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he'd be “comfortable’ with the service taking over the air base defense mission from the Army, provided it was given the resources and manpower to do so. The Army has been slow to devote the resources and attention needed to matching the Air Force’s…