AF may use contractors for refueling missions - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

AF may use contractors for refueling missions

With the purchase of the new KC-X tanker on hold, the Air Force is looking at hiring private contractors to fly aerial refueling missions.

On Dec. 16, the Air Force will explain to potential refueling firms the likely requirements for a private company to handle refueling missions. A notice from the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, cautioned that the service is not yet ready to ask for formal proposals. Instead, the service is looking at what contractors might have to offer and answer questions from potential contractors.

Congress mandated looking at private refuelers in 2008.

The Air Force was expecting to have the KC-X tanker program up and running by now.

In February, a contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman/EADS for 179 tankers to replace KC-135 Stratotakers, but a successful protest by the losing bidder, Boeing Co., and a scathing rebuke by the Government Accountability Office of bidding procedures resulted in the contract award cancellation.

Later, the Defense Department took over the contracting process from the Air Force and an award decision is not expected until mid-2009 at the earliest.