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Northrop Grumman KC-45: Why We Won - Air Refueling Efficiency
Washington DC (SPX) May 05, 2008 The U.S. Air Force found Northrop Grumman's bid to build the next generation of aerial refueling tankers superior to Boeing's in four of the five most important selection criteria. Despite this fact, the losing bidder wants the Government Accountability Office to overturn the Air Force decision to award the contract to Northrop Grumman even though the Air Force conducted what even Boeing described as a fair, open and transparent bidding process. Here is another reason Northrop Grumman won, drawn from a list of facts included in the Mission Capability section of a redacted version of a protected Air Force selection document.
Air Refueling Efficiency Based on the Air Force formula, the KC-45 is six percent more fuel efficient than Boeing's aircraft at a distance out to 1,000 nautical miles, and becomes even more efficient as the distance increases, up to nearly 30 percent at a distance of 2,000 nautical miles. Boeing clearly did not like the results provided by the Air Force formula specified in the Request For Proposal and thus invented its own, which just measured fuel burn. But measuring fuel burn without relating it to mission requirements is meaningless. By Boeing's formula, a Piper Cub is more "efficient" than a KC-767, as is a KC-135R. The Air Force used a common-sense method to measure fuel efficiency: How much fuel does the Northrop Grumman KC-45 use to execute its refueling mission, compared to Boeing's aircraft? The Air Force's conclusion is crystal clear. The KC-45 "Provides better fuel offload per fuel used compared to the KC-767." The reason for the difference is that the Air Force specified a formula related to mission execution to measure efficiency: how much fuel is burned compared to pounds of fuel offloaded at a variety of distances. By using the Air Force evaluation standard, the results are clearly in Northrop Grumman's favor, and the KC-45 provides benefits in other areas as well. In its selection document, the Air Force wrote that "Northrop Grumman's offer was clearly superior to that of Boeing's for ... aerial refueling and airlift." The Air Force also concluded that the KC-45, with greater fuel efficiency and greater range, in a realistic operational scenario "Enables it to execute (missions) with 22 fewer aircraft than Boeing's ... an efficiency of significant benefit to the government." Related Links The Military Industrial Complex at SpaceWar.com Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Outside View: China's obsolete fighters
Moscow (UPI) May 2, 2008 Earlier this year reports appeared in the media that China had copied Russia's Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter and that its J-11 version, now manufactured in China, would be sold to third countries, undermining Russia's positions on the global arms market. |
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