AAR Tanker Business Sector Update / Opinion. At
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Posted On: 09/16/2019 7:11:17 PM
AAR Tanker Business Sector Update / Opinion.
At the Paris Air Show in June 2019, the Airbus / Lockheed consortium reaffirmed their intention to pursue opportunities for providing AAR for the USAF.
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-release...-show.html
US TRANSCOM is continuing to review options for replacing legacy "Cold War" tankers under the KC-X, KC-Y and KC-Z programs.
In my professional opinion, the US made a huge mistake in cancelling the Airbus A330 MRTT as the winner in the original KC-X contest and rerunning the contest skewed to favor the Boeing KC-46A to satisfy the domestic political lobby.
11 years on, the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) has matured into the premier 21st Century AAR tanker for both "probe-and-drogue" and "flying boom" methods of refueling and is in full service - or planned to be - with all significant air arms (other than the USAF / USN / USMC) that do AAR.
By comparison, the KC-46A is late, plagued by production quality issues, and currently not only fails to meet AAR performance requirements (such as the refueling video system) but is also now not able to perform passenger and cargo transport missions as a MRTT.
With Boeing now also having severe financial problems - with penalty payments on the KC-46A program and the fallout from the MAX issues on airliners, I do not expect the DoD to order the full originally planned quantity of KC-46As to replace early-model KC-135s. I also do not believe that Boeing can assume they will get the order to replace the KC-10 under the KC-Y program.
I do expect:
- US TRANSCOM to fully evaluate an element of the overall DoD requirement being filled by contractor owned / contractor operated tankers - as already proved viable by the Royal Air Force with its 27-year $16.5 Billion contract with Airtanker UK using the A330 MRTT.
- All available contractor owned tankers - like those owned by $TMPS and Omega - to get contracts (perhaps teamed with / bought out by Airbus / Lockheed to be used until new A330 MRTTs can be built).
- The USN to continue to do its own thing for the next 5 years to 10 years with a MAC - following the single source contract with Omega that expires in March 2020 - until the overall plan from US TRANSCOM finalizes the new plan for KC-X, KC-Y, and KC-Z.
At the Paris Air Show in June 2019, the Airbus / Lockheed consortium reaffirmed their intention to pursue opportunities for providing AAR for the USAF.
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-release...-show.html
US TRANSCOM is continuing to review options for replacing legacy "Cold War" tankers under the KC-X, KC-Y and KC-Z programs.
In my professional opinion, the US made a huge mistake in cancelling the Airbus A330 MRTT as the winner in the original KC-X contest and rerunning the contest skewed to favor the Boeing KC-46A to satisfy the domestic political lobby.
11 years on, the A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) has matured into the premier 21st Century AAR tanker for both "probe-and-drogue" and "flying boom" methods of refueling and is in full service - or planned to be - with all significant air arms (other than the USAF / USN / USMC) that do AAR.
By comparison, the KC-46A is late, plagued by production quality issues, and currently not only fails to meet AAR performance requirements (such as the refueling video system) but is also now not able to perform passenger and cargo transport missions as a MRTT.
With Boeing now also having severe financial problems - with penalty payments on the KC-46A program and the fallout from the MAX issues on airliners, I do not expect the DoD to order the full originally planned quantity of KC-46As to replace early-model KC-135s. I also do not believe that Boeing can assume they will get the order to replace the KC-10 under the KC-Y program.
I do expect:
- US TRANSCOM to fully evaluate an element of the overall DoD requirement being filled by contractor owned / contractor operated tankers - as already proved viable by the Royal Air Force with its 27-year $16.5 Billion contract with Airtanker UK using the A330 MRTT.
- All available contractor owned tankers - like those owned by $TMPS and Omega - to get contracts (perhaps teamed with / bought out by Airbus / Lockheed to be used until new A330 MRTTs can be built).
- The USN to continue to do its own thing for the next 5 years to 10 years with a MAC - following the single source contract with Omega that expires in March 2020 - until the overall plan from US TRANSCOM finalizes the new plan for KC-X, KC-Y, and KC-Z.
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A very apposite motto for those who trade successfully in the OTC market..
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A very apposite motto for those who trade successfully in the OTC market..
All posts are my opinion - trade at your own risk.