Pentagon to release tanker bid proposal Wednesday

The Air Force on Wednesday will release its final proposal for bids to restart an almost 9-year-old effort to build a new fleet of aerial refueling tankers, according to officials familiar with the issue.

The Pentagon will brief congressional committees and then Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn and Air Force Secretary Michael Donley will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. Seattle time, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to discuss the plan.

Boeing and a Northrop Grumman-EADS team are potential bidders for the contract, which may be worth as much as $35 billion, to replace the military's fleet of KC-135 tankers, which were built by Boeing. The companies will have 75 days to respond to the proposal, officials said.

The Air Force plans to buy 179 planes starting with seven in 2013, 12 in 2014 and 15 in 2015, according to the service's long-range budget.

The Air Force proposes to spend $11.7 billion on aerial refueling tankers, including research, development and purchases, in the five years starting with fiscal 2011.

Northrop Chief Executive Officer Wes Bush has said his company may not bid for the program unless the draft request for bids that the Pentagon issued in September is amended to the company's satisfaction.

Bush, in a Dec. 1 letter to Ashton Carter, the Pentagon's weapons buyer, said the draft was skewed in favor of a smaller plane from Boeing and would impose "financial burdens" on Los Angeles-based Northrop.

Northrop and EADS — European Aeronautic Defence & Space, the parent of Airbus — won the tanker contract in February 2008. Boeing successfully protested the award in June of that year.

The original tanker replacement concept was created in late 2001 by the Senate Appropriations Committee with a proposal to lease and then buy Boeing tankers.