Wednesday, November 18, 2009

As Boeing continues the fight for the tanker deal, lawmakers, including the Kansas Congressional Delegation, put heat on the Defense Department to level the competition for the tanker Wednesday.

Lawmakers are demanding the Air Force and Defense Department consider a World Trade Organization ruling which says Airbus took illegal government subsidies. They’re calling for a fair competition with fair rules.

The World Trade Organization ruling finds EADS, the parent company of Airbus, took illegal subsidies to start up airplane programs, which saved Airbus the cost of borrowing money in the commercial market.

Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt says the illegal subsidies include money for the A-300 plane which Airbus bases their tanker on. Lawmakers say the Pentagon should consider that when deciding between Boeing and Northrup for the next tanker.

"The DOD should not feign ignorance of the policies defended by our trade representative. The left hand of government should know and does know what the right hand of government is doing," Senator Sam Brownback said.

The Pentagon has said it's not going to consider the WTO ruling because the Europeans filed a complaint of their own alleging Boeing benefited from improper subsidies through Pentagon contracts.

"And it is the height of inconsistency for the U.S. Air Force to flat out ignore the impact of the WTO decision," Senator Pat Roberts said.

U.S. lawmakers will put more heat on the Defense Department to select what they say is the American product, the Boeing Tanker. The most important point for folks in Kansas is that Wichita is an important part of our operations and it is where we'll do tanker modification," said Boeing spokesperson Bill Barksdale.