Northrop Grumman KC-45: Why We Won - Strengths And Weaknesses

The U.S. Air Force found Northrop Grumman's bid to build the next generation of aerial refueling tankers superior to Boeing's in four of the five most important selection criteria.

Despite this fact, the losing bidder wants the Government Accountability Office to overturn the Air Force decision to award the contract to Northrop Grumman even though the Air Force conducted what even Boeing described as a fair, open and transparent bidding process.

Here is another reason Northrop Grumman won, drawn from a list of facts included in a redacted version of a protected Air Force selection document.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Boeing likes to claim that its proposed aircraft was rated better than Northrop Grumman's winning KC-45 tanker, stating that it was rated superior to Northrop Grumman on 98 items – called "discriminators" – while Northrop Grumman was superior on 30.

But discriminators are not just "added up" – they vary greatly in significance. Instead of focusing on the most important discriminators, Boeing is counting items that the Air Force judged were much less critical to the KC-X's core mobility mission.

In all, the Air Force identified approximately 800 requirements of varying importance. And the Air Force Request For Proposal (RFP) made clear that it considered Aerial Refueling and Airlift to be the two most important performance criteria.

In these critical categories – which go to the heart of the KC-X mission – Northrop Grumman was clearly superior to Boeing, attaining a two-to-one advantage in key discriminators.

Where were Boeing's advantages? They were in less critical areas like having more interior electrical outlets, better flight deck seats, and the ability to carry secondary, rarely-used fuels – like Swedish Kerosene.

How do more electrical outlets stack up against increased fuel offload over range? How do better flight deck seats compare to greater airlift capability? The conclusion is obvious. The Air Force made clear what its priorities were in the RFP, rated the two competitors, and selected the KC-45.