The Pentagon is examining whether to speed up the process of awarding the KC-X tanker contract now that Boeing is the sole remaining bidder, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters, March 9, 2010. The current timeline calls for awarding the contract around mid-September 2010, but Pentagon officials are mulling whether that may be moved up, Whitman said. Here, Eisenhower-era KC-135 tankers, the type that new KC-X aircraft will replace, take off from Altus AFB, Okla., Feb. 4, 2010.
Air Force photo by A1C Myles Stepp