D’une fa\u00e7on assez inattendue, le g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Norton Schwartz, nouveau chef d’\u00e9tat-major de l’USAF, a annonc\u00e9 lundi au cours d’une conf\u00e9rence de presse que le programme KC-45 est d\u00e9finitivement bien vivant (ou, selon ses termes, definitely not dead<\/em>). Nous voil\u00e0 \u00e9trangement rassur\u00e9s, car, au fond, qui a jamais pens\u00e9 s\u00e9rieusement que le programme KC-45 (KC-X) puisse \u00eatre autre chose que bien vivant, tant son importance est absolument centrale pour la puissance strat\u00e9gique US? Mais ce n’est encore rien. Apr\u00e8s nous avoir rassur\u00e9s d’une angoisse que nous n’avions pas, Schwartz nous pr\u00e9cise que le programme reprendra avec la nouvelle administration, sur des bases nouvelles, sans doute sur des sp\u00e9cifications nouvelles, et que le processus prendra au mieux 8 mois, au plus long 48 mois, si on travaille bien la chose Cette diff\u00e9rence de d\u00e9lais est la cons\u00e9quence d’une diff\u00e9rence d’approche, l’imprudente (la courte et rapide) et la prudente (la longue et lente)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tVoici ce que nous en dit Air Force Association, dans son Daily Digest<\/em> le 16 septembre<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abA restarted KC-X tanker program under the new Administration could take as little as eight months and as long as 48 to produce a new winner, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said at a press conference Monday. The KC-X is definitely not dead, Schwartz said, but USAF will spend the next few months developing options for the new President to consider.<\/em>[] Schwartz said the most aggressive option would be one not unlike that originally proposed by Gates; namely, to address only those issues raised by the Government Accountability Office in upholding Boeing’s protest of the tanker contract to Northrop Grumman. Such an approach could yield a winner next August, he said. At the other end of the spectrum, Schwartz noted, would be a cold, cold start, setting new requirements, conducting a new analysis of alternatives, and formulating a new acquisition process. That approach could take 36 to 48 months. However, that estimate doesn’t take into account the heat and smoke generated by various members of Congress representing various constituencies, acting Secretary Michael Donley noted at the joint media session. Donley said the Congressional input and the acid war of words between the contractors, as played out in the press, was not good for the department, which felt constrained in talking about the tanker. It was not a healthy situation for either of us, meaning industry and the Air Force, Donley said.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n