The Tale Of The New Air Force Refueling Planes

The saga of the New Air Force Refueling planes. It is a tale of politics, politics, and even more politics. (sound familiar)

The two companies involved in the initial contract were Boeing and Northrop.

The contract calls for the replacement the current ageing fleet of Boeing refueling planes. They are currently all 30+ years old.

The original contract was awarded to Boeing back in 2003. Then controversy broke out. The procurement officer for the Air Force named Darleen Druyun (after approving the deal to buy the Boeing planes) left the Air Force and went to work for Boeing at a salary of $250,000. There was outrage over her hiring. An investigation was launched. Druyan was fired from Boeing. The Executive that hired her was fired. The Boeing CEO was forced to resign. The contract to buy the planes is cancelled. There was an investigation and Druyan and the Boeing executive both pleaded guilty and both went to Jail.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51778-2004Nov15.html

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/100104g1.htm

The entire process started all over again.

For the second bidding process Northrop partnered with EADS (parent company to Airbus) and bid on the contract together. There was outrage that a US Air Force Planes will be built in Europe. Northrop promised the new planes will be built in Alabama. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/business/worldbusiness/18iht-charm.4.6193125.html

Eventually Northrop won the 38 Billion Dollar Contract. http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3399967&c=FEA&s=CVS

Boeing was enraged and complained there was an unfair process (again) to pick the winner. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-03-10-boeing_N.htm

The Government Accountability Office agreed and Secretary of Defense canceled the second contract.
http://www.yourindustrynews.com/news_item.php?newsID=10315

The entire process had to start over for the 3rd time.

This time Northrop's says they will not participate in another bidding process. They stomped their feet and went home. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/mar/08/northrop-grumman-will-not-bid-refueling-tanker-job/

Meanehile the EADS says they will bid on the new contract without Northrop. They are not stupid enough to walk away from 35 Billion http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100420/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tanker_fight

Even the Russians say they may bid on the US Air Force Tanker Contract. In case the whole thing wasn't enough of a circus. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5374269,00.html

So now you are up to date on what has been going on for 9 straight years and could possibly go on for the next 9.