Boeing NewGen Tanker Win Would Benefit Pennsylvania
ST. LOUIS, April 19, 2010 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that the state of Pennsylvania will benefit from an estimated 410 total jobs with eight suppliers and generate an estimated $25 million annual economic impact if the Boeing NewGen Tanker is selected as the U.S. Air Force's next tanker aircraft. Currently, Boeing has 5,900 employees in Pennsylvania and works with 816 suppliers/vendors, delivering a total $537 million in annual economic impact.
The NewGen Tanker is a widebody, multi-mission aircraft based on the proven Boeing 767 commercial airplane and updated with the latest and most advanced technology. Capable of fulfilling the Air Force's needs for transport of fuel, cargo, passengers and patients, the combat-ready NewGen Tanker is being offered as a replacement for 179 KC-135 aircraft. Boeing is writing a proposal to meet or exceed the 372 mandatory requirements described in the service's final KC-X Request for Proposal released on Feb. 24. The Air Force is expected to award a contract later this year.
"At a time when our nation and this great state of Pennsylvania are struggling to return people to jobs or keep them employed, this opportunity to help build Boeing's NewGen Tanker will be critical to our workers and their families," said Rick Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.
Pennsylvania manufacturers ready to produce critical components on the NewGen Tanker include:
- Brenner Aerostructures, Bensalem -- wing panels, trunion doors, drag strut doors, heater housings, clips and panel assemblies
- DRS Laurel Technologies, Johnstown -- Aerial Refueling Operator Stations
- Dunmore, Bristol -- interior wall coverings
- Maxima Technologies, Lancaster -- flight deck instrumentation
- Rieker, Aston -- flight deck instrumentation.
"Businesses in Pennsylvania have a strong history of taking on critical work for America's defense, and we're ready to help Boeing produce a new generation of tankers for the U.S. Air Force," said David W. Patti, president and CEO, Pennsylvania Business Council.
The NewGen Tanker will be made with a low-risk approach to manufacturing that relies on existing Boeing facilities in Washington state and Kansas as well as U.S. suppliers throughout the nation, with decades of experience delivering dependable military tanker and derivative aircraft. Nationwide, the NewGen Tanker program will support approximately 50,000 total U.S. jobs with Boeing and more than 800 suppliers in more than 40 states.
The Boeing NewGen Tanker also will be more cost-effective to own and operate than a larger, heavier tanker. It will save American taxpayers more than $10 billion in fuel costs over its 40-year service life because it burns 24 percent less fuel than the competitor's airplane.
Boeing has been designing, building, modifying and supporting tankers for decades. These include the KC-135 that will be replaced in the KC-X competition, and the KC-10 fleet. The company also has delivered four KC-767Js to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and is on contract to deliver four KC-767s to the Italian Air Force. Three of the four Italian tankers are in flight test, with the fourth airplane in production.
More information on Boeing's NewGen Tanker, including video clips and an interactive tour of the aircraft, is available at www.UnitedStatesTanker.com.
Source: BOEING
