Shortly after midnight on June 23 during the House Armed Services Committee’s marathon session to fashion the fiscal year 2023 defense policy bill, a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted down an amendment that would prohibit the Air Force from awarding the contract for the KC-Y “bridge tanker” unless the service conducted a competition. The amendment was offered by Rep. Jerry Carl (R-AL), an outspoken critic of the current KC-46A Pegasus program whose delays and cost overruns have prompted Air Force...
