For Immediate Release

October 24, 2001

AIR FORCE PURCHASE OF BOEING 767s
LAUNCHED BY HOUSE COMMITTEE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Appropriations Committee today recommended spending a total of $454 million this year to begin purchasing, modification and development of Boeing 767 aircraft to be used by the U.S. Air Force for several missions, including aerial refueling tankers, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said.

        The panel endorsed the “common wide-body platform” concept, selecting the newer and more efficient Boeing 767 airframe to begin replacing the Air Force’s fleet of 100 KC-135E tankers over the next ten years, with the potential for replacing additional KC-135R tankers at a later date.  The 767 platform will also be used for the JSTARS and other command and control mission aircraft, Rep. Dicks said.

        “With the 707’s averaging more than 40 years of age, we could not delay any longer the critical responsibility of replacing the tanker fleet that allows the United States to project air power worldwide,” Dicks noted.  “I am very pleased that Congressmen Jerry Lewis and Jack Murtha, as the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, have made this a high priority in the Fiscal Year 2002 defense bill.”

        With Boeing now anticipating deferrals of aircraft orders due to the recent airline industry setbacks, Rep. Dicks said the move will help maintain the Boeing 767 workforce, largely based in the Puget Sound area of Washington State.  “Clearly this is a win-win situation: the Air Force will get timely replacement of our aerial refueling tankers with a 767 tanker version, and at the same time this effort will add greater stability to the workload at Boeing during this difficult period,” he said.

        The plan also calls for engineering work needed to utilize the 767 platform for the Joint Stars (Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) long-range air-to-ground surveillance aircraft and a multi-mission command and control aircraft – both currently using older 707 airframes, he said.

        In addition to the boost to Boeing’s 767 production line, the Appropriations Committee also agreed today to a new “multi-year procurement” of the Boeing C-17 airlifter.  The Committee approved a net increase of $180 million for non-recurring production costs of additional C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, the Air Force’s newest generation of cargo planes that transport equipment, troops and supplies to locations worldwide.  The Air Force had earlier ordered 120 C-17s, and the decision today will begin a follow-on procurement of the planes, at a lower unit cost to the government, Rep. Dicks said.

        The defense bill also includes $85 million for the purchase of a specialized Boeing 737, to be used by the Air Force for aeromedical evacuation.  Rep. Dicks said he is also pursuing additional procurement of these 737s –designated C-40s -- to meet a Navy requirement for 23 additional replacements for older DC-9s currently in the fleet.

        Several other important national defense priorities were addressed in the defense spending bill approved today, he said, including:

• An additional $463 million to assure the conversion of all four of the retiring Trident ballistic missile submarines into cruise missile platforms.  The administration requested $116 million this year for work on converting only two subs.   Rep. Dicks noted that the additional funds this year will substantially reduce the overall costs and it will assure that the design and engineering for all four subs proceeds quickly.  At least two of the subs would be converted at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, the congressman said.
• A total of $80.5 million for additional navigation and weapons integration work on the B-2 bomber, which has performed ably in Kosovo and most recently in Afghanistan.
• $3.5 billion for R&D and procurement of F-22 advanced generation fighter aircraft produced by Boeing.
• A multi-billion dollar Boeing program upgrading satellite imagery architecture.

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