July 18, 2008 5:21 PM PDT
Aerospace giant Boeing is embroiled in a battle with Europe's EADS and its U.S. partner, Northrop Grumman, over who will supply the U.S. Air Force with its next generation of aerial refueling tankers. Boeing had seemingly lost out on that contract until it was recently reopened after the Government Accountability Office flagged what it described as procedural errors in the initial competition.
Both sides made much noise this week over which aircraft maker has the better contender. Boeing's entrant, the KC-767, is based on the company's 767 commercial aircraft, while EADS/Northrop's, the KC-45, is based on the Airbus A330. Pictured here are a pair of the Boeing KC-767 aircraft in a test flight; earlier this year, the company said it had delivered two such planes to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
Photo by Boeing photo/Ted Whiteside
Caption by
Jonathan Skillings
