EADS North America KC-45: The Real Tanker

More mirthful back-and-forth between Boeing and EADS.

Boeing today fired off a rebuttal ad to the EADS “Get Real” ad published right after it got back into the KC-X tanker competition.

Boeing also posted this message on its website:

Standing Up for the Truth

May 25

The Boeing Company has taken our tanker technology trailer to 14 cities in 12 weeks to demonstrate why the NewGen Tanker is the best choice to replace the critical but aging Eisenhower-era KC-135 fleet. We appreciate the many visitors who have made time to hear our story and share their thoughts. While taxpayers do not decide which tanker will be selected, each and every voice needs to be heard on this issue. It is a significant economic decision that will impact America’s national security.

While the cost of the contract is estimated at approximately $35 billion, the value of providing future men and women who selflessly serve this nation with the most advanced tanker ever created is priceless. That is why this KC-X choice should become very personal to each and every citizen.

Let me share an example. Our Boeing trailer team showed up one Tuesday morning in Toledo, Ohio, to set up for another stop on our tour. We were met by a nice couple eager to check out the NewGen Tanker technology. They had been following this acquisition effort for years and were more than willing to express their opinions. More than anything else, they wanted us to clearly lay out why we have the best airplane and why the men and women working at existing facilities and on our supplier team should make this fleet here in America.

An important part of telling our story is setting the record straight when our competitor distorts the truth. We owe that to the many people who don’t have time to research the facts and hold them accountable. We owe that to the men and women who fly, fight and win in the United States Air Force. And we owe that to the incredible Boeing employees who build military and commercial jets for the world.

That’s why we are running a new ad. Our initial NewGen tanker advertising described the merits of our offer. But the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) took a different tactic and began attacking our airplane and the ability of Americans to deliver.

While we have no desire to go tit-for-tat, we will not accept a complete distortion of the truth. To borrow a line from the ad, “America’s warfighters and taxpayers deserve the real facts, the real story, and the best choice — the Boeing NewGen Tanker.”

EADS responded with this from its website:

EADS North America KC-45: The Real Tanker

Going Negative

When companies get desperate, they do desperate things. The Boeing ad campaign has pivoted. No longer content to show concept art portraying what its U.S. tanker might one day look like if it ever gets built, Boeing today suggests in a full page Washington Post ad that EADS North America is actually the company that doesn’t have a working tanker – while showing our tanker in flight, refueling an F-16.

Contrast that with Boeing’s ads for its NewGen tanker, which label as “Combat Ready” an artists conception of a plane that has never been built or flown.

The Facts

Boeing’s NewGen tanker only exists on paper, and is profoundly different than any tanker it has ever built. The Boeing Corporation’s last tanker delivery to the U.S. Air Force was in 1965. Boeing has delivered – years late – four 767 tankers to Japan that do not come close to meeting U.S. requirements. Boeing is more than four years late providing a tanker to Italy, because it lacks fully functional refueling systems.

Don’t let Boeing distract you. Only EADS North America has a tanker that is flying and refueling today that meets Air Force requirements. When that changes, we’re sure Boeing will share a photograph of the tanker they are trying to sell the Air Force.

In the meantime, you can watch video of our real tanker in action – the same platform the Air Force will get, with the same refueling systems – at kc-45now.com.

Source: leeham news

Tags: air force tanker, airbus, Boeing, EADS

Comments (2)

Shawn Paul Boike says:

June 15, 2010 at 23:46

This program is important to everyone and there is a need for both builders, let NATO, UN & Europe buy the EADS right away, and let Boeing win the USAF for the US.
As this world becomes more hostile in dramatic Earth changes among other concerns the World is big enough and will have room for both.
Just eventually make them “modular” and capable for: transporter, firfighting & gun ships with more & bigger guns than originally called out.
N. Lewis says:

June 29, 2010 at 16:20

This article fails to mention Boeing’s experience (gained through the merger with McDonnell Douglas) of the KC-10 in the 1980s. Having worked on that program, I can attest to the significant knowledge base acquired during the program.

Boeing (or EADS) may or may not have the best design for the mission. In evaluating any program, one has to consider capability vs. requirement, project risk (i.e. a new aircraft design has inherently more risk than an existing production platform), and cost.

In a close race the “home team” is normally awarded the work for obvious reasons. However, the size of the total market must be considered in evaluating cost. If you think this is a minor point, just look what happened to Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas when they both produced a very similar product (L-1011 and DC-10) for a limited marketplace.

So, let the best product win and don’t let your hopes/desires blind you to reality.

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