EADS must prove commitment for tanker extension - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

EADS must prove commitment for tanker extension

EADS must prove that it is serious about bidding on the Air Force’s $35 billion KC-X competition before the Pentagon grants the European defense giant a “modest extension” to the May 10 deadline for responding to the request for proposals.

“Is EADS serious about putting together a proposal? ... If they are, [the Air Force] will think about granting EADS “a modest extension,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said during an Air Force Association-sponsored breakfast March 30.

The Pentagon believes a true competition would be best for the taxpayer, Schwartz said, before reiterating his earlier statement that EADS must be serious about bidding as a prime contractor.

He added that the modest extension would not affect the performance of the current fleet of KC-135R Stratotankers that KC-X will one day replace.

His comments come nearly one week after Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers that he had received a letter from EADS seeking extra time to respond to the RfP so the company could put together a solo bid after its former partner and U.S. prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, announced early this month that it would not bid.

EADS has confirmed that it sent a letter seeking a 90-day extension to the May 10 RfP response date.

Late last week, Tom Enders, CEO of EADS subsidiary Airbus, said that the company will make a decision to bid within the next two to three weeks.

“Though there has been no decision by EADS to bid, we appreciate the Department of Defense’s expressed commitment to competition,” reads a March 30 e-mail from EADS North America spokesman James Darcy. “We are continuing to evaluate our options. An extension of the RFP deadline is essential, but not the only factor in making a decision.”

U.S. partner

One of the biggest challenges facing EADS officials is finding a U.S. partner capable of assembling their Airbus A330-based tanker at a stateside plant. The European company is also taking massive financial hits with its troubled A380, A400M and A350 programs, something that could factor in its decision to put together an aggressively priced bid to compete against rival Boeing’s 767-based offering.

Schwartz also said the U.S. Air Force is angling to take the lead in the command and control of the nation’s missile defense systems.

While the U.S. Army and Navy operate the majority of the surface-to-air missiles used for missile defense, the air service wants its air component commanders around the globe to have command and control of those assets in their theaters of operation. However, the other services are also vying for control of the nation’s missile defenses and the issue will “have to be decided in the tank,” said Schwartz, referring to the Pentagon’s conference room for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The general also touched on the latest developments in the Air Force’s effort to field a new long-range strike platform sometime in the coming decade or two, saying that the service is working to convince the Pentagon within the next year of the service’s need for a long-range strike system that is somewhere “between an F-35 and a conventional ballistic missile.”

Whatever system emerges will likely be based off existing technology and will fit into the Pentagon’s planned family of strike systems that was mandated in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. The system will be “affordable and appropriate” and not laden with costly “wishful” technologies and capabilities, added Schwartz.