Aviacion

10/03/2008
Airbus and Northrop Grumman defeat Boeing

The KC-45A Tanker was selected by the U.S. Air Force as its new tanker, culminating a multi-year evaluation.
The programme award calls for 179 aircraft with an estimated contract value of US$ 40 billion. The initial KC-45A contract for Northrop Grumman covers four System Design and Development aircraft and is valued at US$ 1.5 billion.
The KC-45A Tanker is based on the EADS A330 MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport). Its airframe is derived from the popular A330 jetliner produced by EADS` Airbus Division, of which more than 880 have been ordered worldwide in passenger and freighter configurations. The Military Transport Aircraft Division (MTAD) is responsible within the EADS Group for all military derivative programmes based on Airbus platforms, including tankers.
EADS has Northrop Grumman as local partner and together they defeated Boeing and its KC-767.

Source: Airbus