Except in times of war – and maybe not even then – an entire branch of the U.S. military can’t get a much bigger rebuke than the Air Force got this week.

After twice botching the super-critical acquisition of new aerial refueling tankers, the USAF saw its authority over the decision unceremoniously yanked Wednesday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Instead of letting the Air Force choose whether a Boeing or Airbus tanker will replace its ancient fleet of KC-135s, Gates’ own office will make the call.

That’s roughly like forbidding the Navy to pick its own frigates or the Army to pick its own tanks. It is a damning vote of no-confidence in the administrators entrusted with deciding what equipment the Air Force uses to carry out its missions.

And this particular equipment is of utmost importance. The United States can project its air power and airlift capability throughout the world only because of its airborne tankers, which refuel other military aircraft in flight. The tankers give Air Force fighters, bombers and transports a potentially global range.

But the existing USAF tankers were obsolete and overdue for replacement many years ago. Designed in the 1950s, the oldest KC-135s were rolled out a half century ago, when Dwight Eisenhower was president. Stealth aircraft and the cutting-edge C-17 transport are thus dependent on a faltering, metal-fatigued antique.

Replacement of the KC-135 became urgent a long time back. But the Air Force blew its first chance to get a new tanker five years ago, when a plan to lease aircraft from Boeing disintegrated after a procurement corruption scandal.

The second chance came when the Air Force ran a bidding competition between Boeing and a partnership comprising Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., the parent of Airbus.

The case for the Airbus A330-based tanker began falling apart within weeks after the Air Force declared Northrop-EADS the winner last February. The decision achieved scandal status last month when the Government Accountability Office found that the Air Force had violated its own rules in choosing the A330 – and that Boeing would likely have won the $35 billion contract if it hadn’t.

The U.S. military cannot wait for this airplane. Gates would have been justified had he simply handed the job to Boeing and gotten construction under way. As it is, he says he’ll ask for new bids – but make a choice by the end of this year.

That fast-tracked decision is likely to produce pretty much the same bids as before, which means Boeing would be the logical choice. Fortunately, the Air Force – which has struck out twice on what is arguably the Defense Department’s most important purchase – won’t be doing the choosing.