SecAF Donley Says KC-46 Tanker Contract At Risk; Hill Must OK $1B

http://defense.aol.com/2013/02/22/secaf-donley-says-kc-46-tanker-contract-at-risk-hill-must-appro/



SecAF Donley Says KC-46 Tanker Contract At Risk; Hill Must OK $1B
By Colin Clark
Published: February 22, 2013

AFA Winter, ORLANDO: The latest looming casualty to the congressional budget mess is Boeing's KC-46 tanker contract, which is in peril unless Congress approves roughly $1 billion in funding.

If you want some idea of just how much uncertainty and confusion sequestration and the Continuing Resolution are generating, this latest mess is a good example. The Secretary of the Air Force cannot tell exactly how much money is needed or when because of the overlapping confusion caused by the CR and sequestration.

"There are too many variables in there," to pin down exactly how much money is needed and when it is needed Donley told reporters during a Q and A session with reporters at the Air Force's annual conference here.

But the effect will be pretty certain. No money, no contract. It took more than a decade to award a contract for the airborne tanker, at least one major scandal and a politically damaging miffed contract award and now, because of Congress' inability to pass a defense appropriations bill and the prospect of the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration, the current fixed price contract -- praised as a good deal for taxpayers by many -- is endangered.