The Congressional mandate after the original Boeing lease fell apart (a plan concocted by Congress, mind you, as a bail-out for Boeing post 9/11) was simple.
Conduct a free, fair and open competition. Which Boeing wins.
Tankers are not a core business for Northrop Grumman. UAVs are, and I'm calling NG to win BAMS next week and to see a big boost in Fire Scout in the next year or so. NG already has the classified demonstrator for the Next Generation Bomber.
Lockheed Martin, which has a huge plant in Marietta that's starting to look very empty, did not even bother to bid, and the last thing that the US needs is another large-airplane assembly line.
Because McCain got mediaeval on Boeing's rear end over the original lease, too, O-whama-bama would find some way to nail him with the USAF BUYS SURRENDER-MONKEY TANKER JET meme.
I will be utterly smobgacked if this is anything but an all-767 award.