Buy Used!
I'm appalled at the lack of imagination shown by all concerned. Boeing and Scarebus management are sleaze and slime, not deserving of such a plum at the expense of taxpayers. There is a third choice, however.
The Pentagon loves big, expensive, drawn out programs, and they basically have a blank check from the poor taxpayers for which the military is a sacred cow. The USAF needs a reality check, and the tanker is a good place to start.
As evidenced by the age of the current USAF tanker fleet, they get very few hours per year, probably on the order of 400, while the 767 and A330 are flying about 4,000 hours per year in commercial passenger service, and quite reliably.
The USAF should be buying used 767s and DC10-30s with, say 50,000 hours on the airframes, and having them converted to tankers. 90-99% of the design is done and flying already, and the data is owned by the USAF, I'm sure.
These veteran airliners with many hours and cycles of life left would do the job at a tiny fraction of the cost of any new airframe. The KC-10A fleet is 25 years old, and the last I heard, has always been the most reliable airplane in the USAF inventory. The 767 is even more reliable.
Boeing could bid on the rework, as could any number of MROs across the US, and even around the world.
Lest you think this is impractical, a subsidiary of Omni Air is converting its second DC-10 to a fire fighting tanker. The entire development of the first one cost only $15 Million of private funds, and it was unprecedented. And Evergreen Intl has slipped a 25,000 gallon tank into a 747-100 freighter for aerial fire fighting. Their budget was in the same ballpark.
Buying up used 767s, DC-10s and even Airbusses would prop up the used airliner market, helping sales of new ones, and saving taxpayers a bundle of $Billions.
GB