Fight for “flying gas stations” – Airbus faces lucrative Pentagon revenge
Flying gas station: The LMXT model from Airbus and Lockheed is to be assembled on US territory
Quelle: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics/Brandon Stoker
Airbus is dying for revenge against Boeing: In the ongoing battle for orders worth billions for US Air Force refueling aircraft, the Europeans are now making a pact with the US armaments company Lockheed Martin. The chances are good – especially since Boeing is struggling with several problems.
Dhe project was stamped with the term “tanker war” more than a decade ago. It represents an unprecedented mix of fierce competition and drama – for Airbus and for Boeing. It is about the renewal of hundreds of aging US Air Force refueling aircraft. Estimated cost: roughly $100 billion.
The flying fuel stations are used to supply military aircraft or helicopters with kerosene in the air. In 2011, under dubious circumstances, Boeing emerged as the winner of a Pentagon tender for initially 179 new tankers. But now Airbus has the best chance of revenge at the third attempt and mentions remarkable details.
Airbus plans to assemble the tankers based on its A330 wide-body aircraft at its US plant in Mobile, Alabama, which opened in 2015.
Subsequently, the models from Lockheed Martin in the Marietta plant in the US state of Georgia are to be equipped as military tanker aircraft, the largest US defense company announced. The message is clear: the Airbus and Lockheed model, known as the LMXT, is to be assembled on US territory. It should be as American as possible.
Boeing once played with the Pentagon
The proposal is a real threat to Boeing. The company produces its tanker (KC-46A) based on the old Boeing 767 model on the US West Coast. In the alliance with Lockheed, Airbus, Europe’s largest aircraft manufacturer, will probably not be as easy to beat as in the past. Around 20 years ago, Boeing initially wanted to get the mega order without a tender and used its Pentagon contacts to do so. It was the prelude to one of the biggest procurement scandals in the United States.
The Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who died in 2018, developed into an advocate for Airbus so that Boeing could not demand moon prices. Boeing’s bargaining with the buyers was exposed. A Pentagon employee was jailed for months for conspiracy. A Boeing ex-chief financial officer also had to be behind bars for a few months.
Then the tanker contract was tendered in competition. Because Airbus knew that, as a European company, it had practically no chance at the Pentagon, the Airbus group, which operated as EADS at the time, allied with the US armaments manufacturer Northrop Grumman. And the Airbus model actually emerged as the winner after the evaluation by the US military – a sensation. According to the sober analysis, it is the better aircraft.
Boeing’s tanker program is a loss-making project
Boeing, however, appealed. There was a re-tendering, with changed criteria. The then acting Airbus CEO Tom Enders spoke of a tailor-made tender for the 767 model of the rival. At the second tender, Northrop Grumman realized there was no chance of winning and jumped off. EADS-Airbus tried it alone and got nothing. The Europeans were at least able to lower the price, for which Boeing was awarded the contract for around 35 billion dollars for 179 tanker aircraft.
So far, however, Boeing’s full-bodied promises about its own tanker have not been fulfilled. On the contrary. It’s a losing project. There are delays, quality and major technical issues. At times, the US Air Force even refused to accept the models. In the spring of 2021, only a good 30 copies had been handed over. In the recently presented balance sheet for 2021, Boeing had to post a further 402 million dollars in special charges from the tanker program. Losses have totaled $5.4 billion since 2014.
The Pentagon is now looking for a reliable model with more range, more fuel on board and additional capabilities, writes industry service Leeham News. Airbus has so far received orders for 61 tankers from 14 nations, 51 of which have been delivered. The A330-200 MRTT (Multi-Role Tanker Transport) model was ordered from Australia via Saudi Arabia to South Korea. Then Canada could follow – and then possibly the major US order with an Americanized version.
Secret U.S. Air Force requirements
The upcoming US tender, known by experts as KC-Y, is about 150 copies to be delivered from 2029. Then the US Air Force wants to phase out their old KC-135 tankers, with an average age of a whopping 57 years.
The head of Airbus military aircraft, Jean-Brice Dumont, recently spoke of the development of fully automatic refueling in the air – ideal for refilling kerosene even with drones. Airbus sees itself clearly ahead of Boeing when it comes to the technology of flying refueling stations. The US Air Force has secret requirements for its tanker aircraft. He doesn’t know them and he shouldn’t talk about them, says the Frenchman. Lockheed Martin would install this secret technology in the tanker.
The tender is not yet through. The first round (KC-X) with 179 models to replace about a third of the aging US tanker fleet went to Boeing. Now comes the tender KC-Y for about 150 aircraft. At some point there will be another round of orders with KC-Z. The so-called tanker war is not over yet.
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