Print edition: 
So far, Boeing isn't officially saying how many jobs winning a U.S. Air Force tanker contract would mean for Kansas.
Boeing hasn't made state projections, company spokesman William Barksdale said.
"I'm hopeful we'll get some numbers sooner rather than later," Barksdale said.
The good news, however, is that Wichita is one of two places the company has said would receive work, if Boeing wins the contract.
Wichita would be a finishing center for the refuelers, and Boeing's Everett, Wash., facility would perform the final assembly, he said.
During the last round of bidding, Boeing said a tanker contract would mean 300 to 500 jobs at Boeing Wichita and another 500 with suppliers, including Spirit AeroSystems, which builds part of every Boeing airliner.
U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt said he thinks the job projections will be similar to those projections.
"There's been no change to the manufacturing plan," Tiahrt said. "They're still going to do the modifications as planned in Wichita."
In fact, a Boeing tanker contract would mean 3,500 jobs to Kansas, Tiahrt said, if you add jobs at machine shops and other companies that supply parts to Spirit.
In 2008, the Department of Defense awarded the Northrop Grumman/EADS team the $35 billion contract, but it was overturned by the General Accountability Office, which said the Air Force failed to evaluate both proposals on the same merits.
Northrop Grumman said last week that it won't submit a bid, saying the Air Force's proposal favors a smaller aircraft than the Airbus A330 it would offer. Boeing's tanker will be based on the 767.
