Le Bourget, France —Boeing was “getting calls within minutes of the announcement” that it had won the KC-X contract about possible foreign sales of the airplane, said Chris Chadwick, Boeing Military Aircraft president. Speaking with reporters here Tuesday at the Paris Air Show, Chadwick said there is a “tremendous number” of potential foreign sales of the KC-46, though he declined to specify particular countries. With the Air Force’s plans to buy 179 aircraft, the price of the KC-46 is likely to be very competitive, Chadwick suggested, and additional foreign orders could ease unit costs further. However, “we have to focus 200 percent” on getting the aircraft developed and built to Air Force requirements first, he said.
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.