Air Force to lease aerial tankers
The US Air Force has decided to proceed with leasing a fleet of 100 new Boeing 767 aircraft, modified as tankers and designated KC-767. Under Secretary of Defense Pete Aldridge said that the leasing arrangement is more cost-effective than buying the airplanes:

The Leasing Review Panel, which is chaired by myself and Undersecretary Zakheim [Comptroller], looked at the pros and cons of leasing KC-767s or the direct purchase of the 767s to begin the recapitalization of the fleet, and recommended to the secretary that we'd proceed with the lease arrangement. This minimizes the near-term cost of the Department of Defense and delivers the aircraft sooner. If we were to purchase the aircraft and deliver them on the same schedule as the lease, it would require billions of dollars more in our Future Years Defense Plan [FYDP]. And reallocating that amount of money for other programs would result in a loss of military capability.

Therefore, the secretary has directed that we proceed with the final negotiations on the lease under the following conditions:

The unit cost of the aircraft, fully modified to acceptable standards and capabilities, shall not exceed $131 million per unit.

The lease will be based on a firm, fixed-price contract, with a return on sales not to exceed 15 percent for the green aircraft [brand new] or for the modifications and additional equipment to convert it to a tanker configuration.

Rush Limbaugh characterized the deal as "corporate welfare" (which suddenly seems to bother him, for some reason) and laid the decision to lease rather than buy squarely at the feet of Sen. Tom Daschle's wife, Linda, a high-powered aviation lobbyist. How she is supposed to have persuaded defense secretary Don Rumsfeld and Aldridge, two of the most unswayable figures in government, is beyond me. Besides, Boeing stock closed today down nine cents, not what they would pay a lobbyist to help them do.

Anyway, what I glean from the news release is that the main concern was getting the new tankers into the air the quickest way possible. The old KC-135 fleet is, well, old, and is suffering from many airframe problems. So I see little to complain about in the leasing arrangement.

I wonder whether Sgt Stryker, he of personal airframe expertise, has anything to say.

by Donald Sensing, 5/27/2003 04:22:47 PM. Permalink |