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A Lockheed Martin rendering of a potential future refueling tanker.
The U.S. Air Force is looking at a new acquisition approach for its future tanker, trying to increase its outreach to industry ahead of new requirements.
The service on Sept. 13 released a controlled request for information (RFI) for the mission systems for its Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS) though the analysis of alternatives (AOA) for the overall airframe has not been completed. That AOA is expected by the end of the year.
“The Department of the Air Force (DAF) is in the early stages of identifying the requirements for the Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS),” the solicitation says. “The DAF is seeking to identify potential industry partners with potential solutions to increase the NGAS tanker’s capability to air refuel and survive within a contested environment. Systems of interest are mission systems, other novel technology, or employment concepts.”
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, speaking Sept. 16 at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air Space & Cyber Conference, said the analysis for the future tanker will impact planning for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter and a future increment of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). The service is looking to combine the analysis of future acquisition programs to ensure they can operate more efficiently together, instead of keeping fighter analysis in its Air Combat Command and mobility analysis within Air Mobility Command.
To that end, the service on Sept. 16 announced it had stood up an interim version of the new Integrated Capabilities Command. ICC will combine the future planning from each of the major commands into one command.
“Out intent is to have simultaneous and well-supported analysis of design concepts for NGAD, NGAS, and CCA Increment 2 over the next few months,” Kendall said. “We have a strong sense of urgency here.”
Andrew Hunter, the service’s assistant secretary for acquisition, said issuing the RFI for mission systems this early is a different approach for the service. The Air Force wants to directly work with these companies, as opposed to having them as subcontractors to traditional prime companies that will build the air frame. This will help ensure the mission systems can be integrated across multiple platforms. There will be another RFI for air frame-producing companies after the AOA is complete.
The service wants this early outreach, ahead of the completion of the AOA, to help have companies involved in setting the requirements early and that competition can continue throughout the acquisition program.
The Air Force still plans to have a competition to replace its aging KC-135 fleet after delivery of the last KC-46 and ahead of NGAS. However, that timeline is not yet known. Hunter says the Air Force needs to have a better understanding of how NGAS can play out before it moves ahead on a potential KC-135 replacement program.
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