I would agree that the KC-46 award doesn't seem to add to the industrial base for tactical aircraft design, but a fair amount of what's going into the KC-46 is coming via Boeing Defense and certainly supports its continued existence.
Agreed. But while Boeing Defense is the prime, Boeing Commercial Aircraft does the great majority of both the engineering and the assembly. It provides precious little to keep the folks in St Louise (the former McDonnell folks) on the leading edge of fighter design and development. Although with SAAB doing most of the design work on the T-X, I'm not sure how much a T-X win will keep the St Louis fighter folks on the bleeding edge either. But certainly way more than the tanker.