For Immediate Release

December 19, 2002

Boeing 767 Tanker Deal Still Moving Ahead

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Air Force plan to lease 100 Boeing 767 tankers is very much alive, Rep. Norm Dicks confirmed with Pentagon officials today.

Responding to a newspaper report published today by columnist Robert Novak, the congressman disputed any contention that the tanker deal has been shelved, saying that the Pentagon’s top acquisition official and the Comptroller confirmed to him today that the Air Force was proceeding with the effort to replace its 40-year old aerial refueling tankers with new 767 airframes.
 
“Both Undersecretary of Defense Pete Aldridge and the Comptroller, Dov Zakheim, confirmed to me this morning that the program is still under active consideration.   And since the President himself told me he strongly favors the 767 tanker option, I believe the Novak report is based on bad sources,” said Congressman Dicks, a senior member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

“Contrary to the impression created in the newspaper column, these are critically-needed tankers, giving all of our fighter and transport aircraft the ‘legs’ to operate worldwide.  And the lease arrangement will actually save the taxpayers money.  The details of the lease arrangements now being finalized at the Pentagon indicate that the final cost of the deal will be billions of dollars less than the speculative estimates mentioned by Senator McCain, the primary source cited in today’s newspaper column,” Rep. Dicks said.

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