Rumsfeld should make a decision
As the Pentagon replaces its KC-135 refueling tankers, maybe it should consider a newer airframe than the 20-year-old design of the Boeing 767 airliner. So said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday.
No kidding. The 767 has aged more than two and a half years just during the time the government has been trying to make up its mind on a deal to buy and/or lease 100 of them from Boeing. And this week the process was prolonged at least another six months when Rumsfeld ordered two more studies to see if the KC-135s really pose an upkeep problem.
Tankers are essential to U.S. military strategy, because refueling on the wing extends the range and responsiveness of military aircraft. A B-2 Stealth bomber, for example, can make it from Missouri to Afghanistan nonstop, thanks to nine in-air fill-ups along the way from a fuel-laden KC-135.
Spokane has a stake in what happens. Fairchild Air Force Base is home to 48 KC-135s, and, under terms of the off-and-on replacement program, it would receive the first 32 of the converted Boeing 767s. In terms of economic impact, some $200 million in construction funds would accompany the planes that would start arriving in 2006. The deal could be significant in determining whether Fairchild avoids closure, and at the state level, thousands of jobs in the aerospace industry are on the line.
More than parochial interests are involved. The KC-135s rolled off the production line from 1957 through 1965. They have been kept airworthy, but at substantial maintenance costs. Their engines have been replaced with quieter and more fuel-efficient models. The original electronics, radar and navigation equipment have been changed out, too. But engine replacement costs a reported $25 million. Corrosion repair another $2.5 million.
No wonder the Air Force wanted to trade the old jalopies in. Leasing the converted 767s would cost more over the long haul, but the pay-as-you-go advantage would get the planes in service sooner – not a bad idea when your nation is at war. Critics, skeptical of the urgency, forged a compromise under which the Air Force would lease only the first 20 planes and buy the other 80.
The Pentagon received understandable criticism for sidestepping the competitive bidding process, but it reasoned that Boeing is the premier builder of tankers in the world. And European-based Airbus had never made a tanker, hadn’t even completed its design for a boom. Despite periodic bouts of uncertainty, the proposal has staggered its way through examination and cross-examination. Congress has given repeated approval. The discussions that became public six months before the invasion of Iraq have received thorough coverage. Ironically, it is Rumsfeld’s own agency that pushed for new tankers.
The KC-135s, meanwhile, are not getting any younger or any cheaper to maintain.
If decisiveness is a command trait, the Defense Department, including its secretary, should demonstrate some.