Friday, March 12, 2009

Boeing seemed to be almost a shoo-in to win the Air Force tanker deal, but now there could be another delay in the competition. The parent company of Airbus - EADS - is said to have asked the Pentagon for a delay in the deadline for accepting bids.

It's the latest in this saga of bickering between companies and politicians as America's fleet of tanker refuelers continues to deteriorate. Friday, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company asked the Pentagon to allow them more time to submit a proposal.

"Here is a $35-billion contract in a bad economy and you want us to delay this so it can be built by a European consortium?" asked Kansas Senator Sam Brownback.

Brownback is calling for the Pentagon to reject EADS request to delay the deadline to submit proposals for replacing America's aging KC-135 fleet.

"I think most Americans would absolutely say this is a dumb idea to do something like that and I don't think the military should even consider this as a possibility," he said.

4th District Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt agreed.

"If the French company does the work, even with an American front company, only about 5% of the jobs would be in America and 95% of the jobs would be in Europe," Tiahrt said. "You have 6,000 jobs in America versus 70,000 jobs in America."

EADS had previously teamed with American company Northrup Grumman in the tanker competition. Northrup announced earlier this week that it would not take part in what is now the third bidding process since 2003. Brownback is comfortable with only one company - Boeing - involved.

"Frankly, if Airbus hadn't subsidized their way into the big airplane market and driven others out of the business, we would have multiple US bidders," Brownback told KAKE News. "But instead, they've driven them out of the business by using European treasuries to do it."

Still, the process to actually get replacement for America's 1950's-era KC-135's is likely several more years down the road.

Also late Friday, the Air Force Times reported that EADS is actively seeking a new partner to help them build a tanker refueler for the Air Force. The article even hinted that the new partner may be Raytheon.