Industry consolidation contributed to tanker woes.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Washington Pulse - Brief Article

The Air Force would have been much better off if there had been more than one U.S. competitor bidding for the air-refueling tanker program, says Secretary James Roche. Ongoing investigations into procurement irregularities associated with an Air Force decision to lease up to 100 767 tankers from Boeing effectively derailed the program, Roche says. The debacle could have been avoided if there had been a legitimate competition. The European consortium Airbus is the only other vendor that could have competed with Boeing, but a...