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EADS North America will not protest the U.S. Air Force’s award of its aerial refueling tanker contract to rival Boeing, company executives said Friday. “After meeting with the Air Force and the Department of Defense and evaluating the information they provided to us … EADS North America has decided not to protest the KC-X tanker award,” EADS North America Chairman Ralph Crosby Jr. said Friday. “The outcome was decided by price, and Boeing’s offer was at a lower price than ours.” He also suggested it might be hard for Boeing to deliver tankers on the Air Force’s timetable and make...

Alabamans steaming on tanker deal Jerry Cornfield It's no surprise that today's decision on the tanker didn't sit well in Alabama. U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby stopped short of implying corruption was involved. "I’m disappointed but not surprised," Shelby said in coverage on al.com. . "Only Chicago politics could tip the scales in favor of Boeing’s inferior plane. EADS clearly offers the more capable aircraft. If this decision stands, our warfighters will not get the superior equipment they deserve.” Here are more samples from this story. "The U.S. Department of Defense, in not awarding the aerial refueling tanker contract to EADS...

In a surprise twist in a long-running saga, the Air Force on Thursday awarded a $35 billion contract for aerial fueling tankers to Boeing rather than to a European company that builds Airbus planes, aides to lawmakers briefed on the decision said.

Report: Boeing losing ground in tanker bid Dayton Business Journal - by Steve Wilhelm, DBJ Contributor . Reports indicate that The Boeing Co. may be losing ground in its bid for the $35 billion U.S. Air Force KC-X tanker modernization contract to Airbus and perhaps Northrop Grumman Corp. But the protracted fight over the next Air Force tanker may bring with it this benefit for taxpayers: a better aircraft for less money. In a blog published Feb. 20, aerospace analyst Scott Hamilton points out that the original 2001 contract won by Boeing would have leased 100 tankers to the Air...

The Boeing Company today submitted its final proposal for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-X tanker competition. The proposal offers a fleet of Boeing NewGen Tankers -- 767-based, multi-mission aircraft that deliver superior capabilities to U.S. warfighters and burn 24 percent less fuel than the competing European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) Company’s tanker. If selected, the Boeing tanker will save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars in fuel costs over the next 40 years and support 50,000 American jobs with more than 800 suppliers in more than 40 states. “This decision is critical to America’s national security and its manufacturing...

EADS will not improve U.S. tanker (Reuters) - Airbus (EAD.PA) Chief Executive Tom Enders said on Saturday the European planemaker's parent company EADS would not improve its bid to build a fleet of U.S. Air Force aerial refueling planes. "It is not our style to make hectic corrections at the last minute," Enders told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich. Enders said EADS had made a very good offer for the contract, that also made economic sense, whereas competitor Boeing Co (BA.N) had announced "last changes" to its bid. The transatlantic rivals have...

A U.S. Air Force officer told Congress that both Boeing and EADS handled "correctly and professionally" a situation in which each received data from the Air Force about each company's bid to build a fleet of refueling tankers. Major Gen. Wendy Masiello also testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Air Force unintentionally sent Boeing and EADS the rival bids on compact disks. The reason for the hearing was to determine whether EADS is in a better negotiating position after one of its employees briefly viewed a summary of the Air Force's assessment of rival Boeing's bid, according...

Boeing to revise bid for US military tanker deal (AFP) – 8 hours ago WASHINGTON — Boeing said Tuesday it would submit a new, "final" bid for a $35 billion contract to supply the US military with 179 aerial refueling tankers, as it tries to beat European rival Airbus. A Boeing spokesman said the firm and US Air Force officials held talks Monday to discuss the company's proposal and revisions would follow. "This was our last opportunity to get feedback from the Air Force on our proposal before the end of the tanker competition," Bill Barksdale said in a company...

The World Trade Organization has apparently issued a final ruling saying that Boeing did indeed recieve unfair — not illegal — subsidies that benefit the development of its aircraft fleet. According to the New York Times, the WTO ruled, in a confidential report, that Boeing received about $5 billion in subsidies. The WTO focused on about $24 billion in R & D contracts Boeing receives from the military and NASA along with Washington state tax breaks that European governments say gave the Chicago-based company a technological and financial edge. Last summer, the WTO found that EADS had received billions in...

The U.S. Air Force will respond to a lawmaker’s inquiry on whether the Integrated Fleet Aerial Refueling Assessment (Ifara) can be eliminated from the service’s KC-X aerial refueling tanker competition, as well as comment on how important Ifara is to the award, an Air Force representative told the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) this morning. Moreover, USAF will respond to a question about what options were considered to “level the playing field” after a data-release mistake last year, defense officials said during a wide-ranging and mostly theatrical hearing on the error. The 2.5-hr. hearing, which quickly became more contentious among...

Senators call on Obama, Congress to level playing field in tanker battle Michelle Dunlop, Herald Writer U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray are pushing for level playing field in the Air Force tanker contest. The Senators from Washington, where the Boeing Co. would build its 767-based tankers, sent a letter to President Barack Obama, to make sure he heeds his own call to support American businesses and workers. Obama emphasized that point during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “For too long American aerospace workers and the critical economic sector they represent have been disadvantaged by trade-distorting...

US military's tanker deal: a saga without end Sun, Jan 23, 2011 AFP WASHINGTON - The battle between aerospace giants Boeing and EADS to supply new aerial refueling tankers for the US Air Force could drag on even after the military finally makes a decision on the contract, experts say. For the past decade, the Pentagon has struggled to launch a new fleet of refueling aircraft to replace the old KC-135 workhorses that date back to the 1950s, but the effort has been marred by scandal and bitter feuds. Two previous attempts to move ahead with a new tanker were...

Can Boeing regain tanker bid balance from EADS? New Mexico Business Weekly . U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA, Thursday visited the Everett (WA) factory floor where The Boeing Co. hopes to build U.S. Air Force tankers, and announced a new initiative to give Boeing back an edge. In the wake of numerous reports that EADS likely will win the Air Force competition to build new flying tankers, Cantwell said she’s asking the Senate Armed Services Committee to determine if the competition can still be fair after the accidental November release of bidding information to both Boeing and Airbus parent EADS....

Boeing has withdrawn from the midair tanker tender floated by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in September 2010. That leaves only the European Airbus A330 MRTT and the Russian IL 78 in the fray for supplying six midair refuelers to the IAF, which may actually buy a few more aircraft on follow-on orders later. At present, IAF flies six IL 78 tankers, which are doing well but are of old technology and IAF is looking for newer, better options. In fact, the Airbus 330 MRTT (Multi Role Tanker Transport) had won the competition earlier but as it was regarded as...

European defense giant EADS expects the Pentagon to award the $35 billion KC-X tanker contract as early as next month. "The contract award … was to have been around the middle of November last year. It has moved toward next month," EADS North America Chief Executive Officer Sean O'Keefe said Wednesday in Paris, citing information from the U.S. Defense Department. European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. is in a fierce competition with U.S. arch-rival Boeing for the contract to outfit the U.S. Air Force with 179 in-flight refueling tankers.

Boeing, EADS tanker debate playing out in magazine ads? Wichita Business Journal - by Steve Wilhelm , Puget Sound Business Journal. While the U.S. Air Force hasn’t yet had the opportunity to evaluate tanker bids from Boeing and EADS, the fight continues to be played out publicly in the pages of industry publications such as Aviation Week and Space Technology. The Air Force is expected to make a decision in February. Consider the Jan. 10 Aviation Week issue, which includes a two-page ad from Boeing, complete with American flags and closeups of two crew members, contending that the 767-based tanker...

Concern surrounds Boeing's tanker bid by GLENN FARLEY / KING 5 News Aviation Specialist NWCN.com Posted on January 10, 2011 at 7:32 PM Updated yesterday at 7:32 PM Gallery.See all 3 photos » EVERETT - Monday marked another milestone for Boeing with the 1,000th 767 nearing completion. Employees signed a banner that mark the occasion, but on everyone's mind was that the future of the assembly line may hang on whether Boeing wins a contract to build at least 179 aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force. For inspector David Muellenbach, who's been on the 767 program for at...

Boeing tries the back door by The Anniston Star Editorial Board Anniston Star Dec 29, 2010 You have to give Boeing Co. and its political allies credit. When it comes to securing the $40 billion Air Force refueling tanker contract, they don’t give up. What does it matter if Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Air Force feel that Boeing’s tactics are, in the words of U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, “underhanded.” What do they care if their efforts represent, as U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, put it, “an unacceptable political attempt” to confuse and delay the acquisition of these...

Bill complicates Air Force contract By JEN DIMASCIO | 12/21/10 6:38 PM EST The House on Tuesday approved an 11th-hour measure that supporters of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. complained could delay the already long-running competition to make $35 billion in new aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., who’s backing the EADS bid, said he and other supporters were caught off guard by the vote in the waning hours of this lame-duck session of Congress. “Boeing wants to have a leg up in the tanker negotiations, and they have been trying the entire...

Airbus Works on Final Aerial Tanker Bid, Claiming Edge on Boeing December 17, 2010, 3:34 AM EST By Andrea Rothman Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus Military said it’s working on a final bid in the $35 billion U.S. Air Force airborne tanker contest as it seeks to trump Boeing Co. in a delayed competition that has already spanned nine years. Airbus’s defense arm is bullish about winning the order because its A330 airliner-based model offers greater capability than Boeing’s 767, Domingo Urena Raso, the unit’s chief executive officer, said in an interview in Toulouse, France. “Our plane is bigger, it...