Flying Gas Stations

Okay, let's try this again. The Air Force is going to ask again for proposals for the KC-X program, which will replace the 50-year old KC-135 refueling aircraft. The last KC-135 was built in 1965 and the old planes spend quite a bit of time getting repaired and rebuilt.

That said, they're also a plane with an excellent safety record and rebuilding the current fleet is actually cheaper in the near term than buying new ones. The proposed replacement would have been the KC-767, a newer Boeing plane of about the same size and capacity. Italy and Japan have already chosen the KC-767 and Boeing seemed eager to push this on the Air Force as the obvious replacement tanker.

But the KC-767 isn't a significant improvement in capability when compared to other proposals. The European Airbus KC-30 (based on the A330-300) carries 20% more fuel and has more cargo space and is already the choice of Australia. A possible KC-777 (based on the 777-200LR) would have 65% more fuel capacity and almost twice the cargo space – big enough that the total number of planes needed could be reduced, thus saving money long term.


I'd love to see a KC-777 (I think Boeing's 777 is just about the greatest thing since sliced bread). It's bigger, newer, faster, better, and American! (I'm not biased am I?) But a lot of politics goes into something like this, so you never know.