On the recordJune 19, 2008
And as I understood it, too, one of the GAO findings was that the Airbus tanker wouldn't refuel all types of aircraft, too. So you had something that certainly was bigger. But what was found out was that bigger wasn't better in this particular instance; you needed longer runways to be able to land them. And so that limited the number of places. But this Airbus tanker also wasn't even able to refuel as many different kinds of aircraft as the Boeing aircraft. And I will go right back on message of saying, I wonder why. Well, Boeing has been doing this for 50, 60 years, and they knew what they were doing. And so they understand the intricacies of what needs to be done and why you need to be flexible, and that flexible is finding that optimum way to do this. And the KC135Es were replaced by the Rs. They've been doing this and making these tankers and optimizing the whole process of making these tankers for decades.
Source
govinfo.gov
