Tanker Decision On Track

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell today reiterated the Defense Department's plans to select a winner in the Air Force's aerial refueling tanker program this fall.  During a press briefing, Morrell was asked about a Sept. 4 Reuters story that said the target date for awarding the Air Force aerial refueling tanker “just got murkier.”

“No longer is mid-November necessarily the moment of truth in the rematch pitting Chicago-based Boeing Co. against Airbus parent EAD, its European rival,” the wire service reported in a story touted as an “exclusive,” noting the announcement on who will build the fleet of 179 aircraft could come as late as Dec. 20, technically the last day of fall on the calendar.

Morrell said the story “was a little overblown.”

“We've been consistent on this from the get go. We anticipate awarding of this contract this fall. . . . We have never offered more clarity than than that. And yet, that is a pretty precise period of time,” he said, noting that the fall season begins Sept. 21 and ends Dec. 21.