A proposal by U.S. Rep. John Murtha to split the Air Force tanker contract between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. will not be included in this year's supplemental war spending bill, according to the congressman.
Rep. John MurthaMurtha, D-Pa., the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees defense spending, said he was abandoning his push to add language to the bill that would have directed the Pentagon to buy planes from both manufacturers.
Murtha "remains committed to working out a plan that gets tankers in the air faster," a spokesman said today. He said Murtha intends to make another push for the dual buy later this year, when the appropriations committee begins crafting the fiscal 2010 defense budget.
Murtha, backed by Alabama congressmen Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, and Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, saw the split as a potential compromise to break a political stalemate between the two rival teams and help the Air Force get its planes.
But the proposal had a powerful opponent in Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said the dual buy was a bad deal for taxpayers and the Air Force.
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., a strong supporter of Boeing, told the Press-Register this week that he also opposed the split.
Bonner and Davis are hoping Northrop can land at least a piece of the potential $40 billion contract because the company would build its KC-45 tankers in a proposed $600 million, 1,500-worker factory in Mobile.
New tankers are the Air Force's top priority. The service wants the new planes to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers, which have been flying on average for nearly 50 years.
Gates has said he intends to move forward with a winner-take-all competition for the coveted deal beginning this summer, with a contract for 179 planes awarded early next year.