HeraldNet: Tanker talk: What's in a name? To Northrop, perhaps a lot



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Aerospace Blog

July 17, 2008

Tanker talk: What's in a name? To Northrop, perhaps a lot

Posted at 2:21 pm by Michelle Dunlop

The Air Force plans to tell Northrop Grumman and EADS to stop referring to their KC-30 tanker as the KC-45, Air Force Magazine reports. But Northrop isn’t budging.

The Air Force refers to the fleet of new aerial refueling tankers that it sought during the KC-X contest as KC-45 tankers. When Northrop and EADS won the competition in February, the duo launched advertisements and a Web site using the KC-45 designation for their KC-30, which is based off an Airbus A330 commercial jet.

The Air Force has reopened its KC-X competition between the Boeing Co. and Northrop-EADS after government investigators said the agency conducted a flawed competition. The Defense Department will oversee the renewed competition.

According to the magazine, Randy Belote, Northrop’s VP for communications, said he was not aware of any directive from the Air Force to stop using the KC-45 designation. He said Northrop remains “under contract with the Air Force on the KC-45 program,” albeit under the stop-work order that was imposed after Boeing’s legal protest in March. “As winner of the KC-X program and while under contract for the KC-45, we have no plans to change the name or nomenclature of our tanker,” he said.

Air Force Magazine additionally noted that a "Name that Tanker" competition the Air Force held after awarding the initial contract to Northrop also is on hold.

Here are a few other tanker-related stories to check out:

Boeing replaces its tanker leader, reports Bloomberg

Former Air Force Secretary Wynne complains about Boeing in this Defense News article

Boeing still likely to pitch KC-767, reports Reuters

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