US Air Force's New Tanker Cannot Refuel the V-22

WOW!

http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish ... 015356.php

The United States Air Force recently awarded a contract to build its new aerial refueling platform to the European defense consortium EADS. Incredibly, sources inside the Pentagon reveal the EADS design is unable to refuel the service's revolutionary new tilt-rotor V-22 aircraft.

According to a "Key System Requirements Comparison" compiled by the Air Force and acquired by TankerBlog.com, while the Boeing tanker provides refueling options "throughout the entire flight envelope," the EADS plane provides "no tilt rotor refueling... "

As much as I'm no fan of the Airbus, is the MV-22 really going to need strategic refuelling? Most missions are relatively short-range, in-theater type flights, which is why the Marines have KC-130s. They're not flying patrols (since they're essentially unarmed), and they don't need tankers to drag them across the ocean, since they're packed up onto the helicopter carriers to make the trip.

EADS disputes that claim and says their tanker CAN service the V22, but it wasn't a mandatory part of the bid anyway.

is this what boeing has been reduced to? bickering i can do one more thing you can't? kinda sad if you ask me... if they hadn't fumbled it the first time around our new KC's would be seattle-built.

Hardly a big deal...A modification I'm sure will be made to accomodate the bird.