Boeing KC-767 Tanker Determined More Survivable in U.S. Air Force Evaluation
ST. LOUIS, April 11, 2008 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] today said the U.S. Air
Force's decision to award a contract for the next aerial refueling airplane
to the team of Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and
Space Company (EADS) is at odds with the fact that the Northrop/EADS team's
KC-30 is less survivable and more vulnerable to attack than the Boeing
KC-767 Advanced Tanker.

The Air Force evaluation cited the Boeing offering to be more advantageous
in the critical area of survivability. The evaluators found the KC-767
tanker had almost five times as many survivability discriminators as its
competitor.

Speaking this week at the Aerial Refueling Systems Advisory Group (ARSAG)
Conference in Orlando, Fla., former U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff and
retired Gen. Ronald Fogleman stressed that survivability greatly enhances
the operational utility of a tanker.

"When I saw the Air Force's assessment of both candidate aircraft in the
survivability area, I was struck by the fact that they clearly saw the
KC-767 as a more survivable tanker," Fogleman told the ARSAG audience in his
role as a consultant to Boeing's tanker effort. "To be survivable, tanker
aircraft must contain systems to identify and defeat threats, provide
improved situational awareness to the aircrew to avoid threat areas, and
protect the crew in the event of attack. The KC-767 has a superior
survivability rating and will have greater operational utility to the joint
commander and provide better protection to aircrews that must face
real-world threats."

On Feb. 29, the Air Force selected Northrop/EADS' Airbus A330 derivative
over Boeing's 767 derivative. Boeing subsequently asked the Government
Accountability Office to review the decision, citing numerous irregularities
and a flawed process that included deviations from the evaluation and award
criteria established by the service for the competition.

During the Air Force debrief, the Boeing team discovered the KC-767
outranked the KC-30 in the critical survivability category. The KC-767
achieved a total score of 24 positive discriminators -- including 11
described as major -- while the KC-30 scored five, none of which were major.

Major survivability discriminators for the Boeing KC-767 included:

More robust surface-to-air missile defense systems
Cockpit displays that improve situational awareness to enable flight crews
to better see and assess the threat environment
Better Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) hardening -- the KC-767 is better able
to operate in an EMP environment compared with the KC-30
Automatic route planning/rerouting and steering cues to the flight crew to
avoid threats once they are detected
Better armor-protection features for the flight crew and critical aircraft
systems
Better fuel-tank-explosion protection features.
Boeing's KC-767 Advanced Tanker will be equipped with the latest and most
reliable integrated defensive equipment to protect the aircraft and crew by
avoiding, defeating or surviving threats, resulting in unprecedented tanker
survivability -- far superior to all current Air Force tankers as well as
the Northrop/EADS KC-30. The Boeing KC-767 also includes a comprehensive set
of capabilities that enables unrestricted operations while providing maximum
protection for the tanker crew.


Un Abrazo.

E. Jarabo.