The 10-year saga of the Air Force to award a contract for new aerial refueling tankers ended a year ago. That’s when Boeing got the final nod. Since then, things have been quiet on the tanker front.

Dennis Muilenburg, president of Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security division, gave The Federal Drive with Tom Temin an upbeat report on the program.

To date, Boeing has hit every milestone on schedule and is headed toward building the first 17 tankers by 2018, Muilenburg said.

Currently, the Boeing team is in the preliminary design review phase, he said.

The tanker is based on the 767 commercial line and will be put together on the same production line as the commercial product, an innovation that will both save the government money and ensure on-time delivery, Muilenburg said.

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