Congressional medding goes both ways...

When Congress tried to overrule the Air Force on CSAR-X, it set a bad precedent. In essence, by dragging a lot of politics into the mix, they have delayed that program for a while.

Now, KC-X is facing a similar delay, this time, rather than trying to stick it to Boeing, Congress is going to earmark the contract to Boeing. Now, I will not call this a pork-barrel situation, as CAGW did (CAGW in the past has come out for going back to oil-fueled carriers, killing the V-22,and has called the C-130J pork, so take their national-security recommendations with the appropriate level of salt).

The fact is that there are some people have about the Northrop Grumman entry. They are questions that deserve answers.

KC-X Winner

Northrop/EADS has just won the Air Force tanker contract.

Boeing is, of course, expected to file a protest.

I doubt that the protest will be upheld--after the hash the USAF made of the last go-around, the procurement office no doubt dotted every i, crossed every t, and minded every last p and q.