Bonner Criticized 2008 Decision to Cancel Tanker Competition
Archived WKRG coverage reported U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner's criticism after the Defense Department canceled the 2008 tanker competition.
U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner sharply criticized the Defense Department’s decision to cancel the aerial-refueling tanker competition in September 2008, according to an archived local news report.
Bonner, whose district included Mobile at the time, said the decision left the Air Force with an aging KC-135 fleet and no immediate replacement plan.
The congressman objected to ending work that had been underway since 2006, when the Air Force began the competition to field a new tanker. He argued that a procurement of this scale should be carried across presidential administrations by career military professionals.
Bonner also cited the Air Force’s ongoing operational use of tankers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he urged officials to move forward with a new competition.
This report records Bonner’s position at the time; it is not an assessment of the decision.
The competition after 2008
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the cancellation on Sept. 10, 2008, leaving the tanker decision to the incoming administration. The Northrop Grumman-EADS team had won the original award in February 2008, but the Government Accountability Office sustained parts of a Boeing protest that June, and the rebid had not been completed.
The Air Force launched a new competition in 2009. Northrop Grumman withdrew in March 2010, EADS continued with a bid of its own, and in February 2011 the Air Force selected Boeing’s 767-based tanker, later designated the KC-46 Pegasus.
