Tanker lease vital to global operations

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. A.J. Bosker
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  To quickly begin the recapitalization of its tanker fleet, the Air Force is pursuing a deal to lease 100 Boeing 767s converted into tankers.

The proposal awaiting Department of Defense approval is vital to sustaining the Air Force’s tanker fleet, said Dr. Marvin R. Sambur, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition at the Pentagon.

Sambur and other senior Air Force leaders have concerns about the ability of the existing tanker fleet to continue supporting operations in the future because of its age and growing corrosion problems.

Many of the Air Force’s KC-135E Stratotankers entered service in the late 1950s during the Eisenhower administration. Today, the average age of a KC-135E is 43 years.

“Before we will be able to recapitalize the entire fleet, some of these planes will be 80 to 90 years old,” Sambur said. “This is uncharted territory for us.”

The Air Force is worried it cannot wait that many years before it replaces these aircraft, he said. Over the past decade, these tankers also have been adding many more flying hours to already old airframes to support operations.

“With our lease proposal, we can get 68 tankers into service by fiscal 2009,” Sambur said. “If we tried to procure them through traditional means, we would only have one or two new tankers in service in the same amount of time.”

The Air Force’s lease proposal is also more cost effective, he said, pointing to data compiled by the Defense Acquisition University that shows this super multiyear lease deal providing a 7 percent price advantage over a conventional purchase.

The Air Force will not have to spend a nickel until Boeing delivers the tankers, Sambur explained. In a normal procurement, the Air Force must start giving the contractor advance payments for aircraft development as soon as the contract is awarded.

If approved, the proposal will be sent to the Office of Management and Budget, and then to Congress for final approval.