| Fee for service. Isn't this somewhat like taking us back to the aborted leasing program?
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/10/airforce_commercial_tankers_071006/
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Senate wants to test commercial tankers
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Oct 6, 2007 10:27:22 EDT
The Senate is instructing the Air Force to begin a five-year pilot program that would use commercial vendors to refuel Air Force aircraft in the air.
A provision in the 2008 defense spending bill, passed Oct. 3 by the Senate, calls for Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne to launch a program that would try out the idea of commercial fee-for-service aerial refueling.
To become law, the provision will have to make it through a joint Senate-House conference that will determine the final content of the spending bill.
Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Barbara Carson said the Air Force is evaluating the bill.
The bill specifies that the pilot program may not include more than three commercial vendors, and each vendor must provide at least two tankers.
Each participating aircraft must fly a minimum of 1,200 hours per year, the bill says.
Wynne’s office would be required to submit an annual report on the pilot program to congressional defense committees.
The Air Force’s 530 KC-135 tankers are an average of 40 years old, and the Air Force has made fielding a new tanker its top acquisition priority.
The service is expected to name a winner in December or January of a $40 billion contract to build 179 new tankers. Boeing and Northrop Grumman are the bidders.
Northrop, teaming with the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., is offering the KC-30, a modified version of the Airbus A330.
Boeing is offering a version of its 767 airliner.
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