Air Force Tanker Competition May not be Decided by the End of the Year

The U.S. military is not guaranteeing that their selection of a winner for the $40 billion Air Force tanker contract will be by the end of this year. John Young, a senior military official who has overseen the selection of replacing the aging fleet of KC-135 refueling tankers, believes that unless everything goes smoothly the winner may not be selected in the next six months. 

Considerations to make the competition fair and based on similar merits will be made this time and the two companies will be better informed of the most important things to look out for that the military will be basing their final decision on.  It is believed that there may be some changes in the aircraft size or life cycle that could turn the competition to one side or the other, but Young assured that the overall plans are still the same.