Defense Secretary Robert Gates terminated the KC-X competition in September 2008 and has placed the U.S. Air Force's program to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 tanker in suspension until next year. The Air Force selected the KC-45A variant of the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) over Boeing's KC-767 offering in February 2008, igniting a political firestorm. Boeing's protest of the selection was subsequently upheld in part by the Government Accountability Office. Meanwhile European analysts and government leaders began to loudly complain that the contract had become mired in protectionism. The Air Force was attempting to wrap up a hurried, abbreviated recompetition of the contest by the end of the year when Gates threw in the towel and punted the problem of what to do about the Air Force's ongoing tanker problem to the next administration.
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