Northrup Grumman/EADS win USAF tanker bid
Decision expected to be announced in the next 24 hours....
NO WORD ON TANKER WINNER
Mobile will have to wait at least one more day to learn its fate in the U.S. Air Force's aerial refueling tanker competition.
The Air Force made no announcement Tuesday in the contest for one of the biggest and most hotly contested defense deals in years. A Pentagon executive board met Monday to review the Air Force's selection process for the proposed $40 billion, 179-plane tanker contract.
The contest pits Boeing Co. and its KC-767 tanker against a rival team by led Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS North America, which together are proposing to assemble their KC-30 tankers in a new factory at Mobile's Brookley Field Industrial Complex. Observers have widely predicted the contract is Boeing's to lose. The Chicago-based company built the Air Force's existing fleet of KC-135 tankers and has a powerful team of politicians supporting its bid in Congress.
Northrop's KC-30 assembly plant would create up to 1,500 direct jobs in Mobile paying an average wage of about $1,250 a week. Another 300 jobs would be added by Airbus, which has announced plans to shift production of commercial air freighters to Brookley contingent on winning the tanker contract. The KC-30 tanker is based on a French-made Airbus A330 jet.
Defense analysts said the secrecy surrounding the Air Force's decision was unusual, given the size of the contract and the fact that leaking such details is a political sport in Washington, D.C.
Monday's meeting of the Defense Acquisition Board, which signs off on major weapons buys, was one of the final steps toward a decision. The Air Force is waiting for John Young, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, to sign a memorandum authorizing the service to move ahead with an award. A Pentagon spokeswoman said the memorandum had not been issued as of late Tuesday but gave no further details. Once the document is signed, the Air Force is expected to brief key Congressional leaders and the companies before publicly disclosing its choice.
The announcement could be made as early as today, but not before U.S. financial markets close at 4 p.m., according to the Pentagon. Defense analyst Loren Thompson, who has followed the competition closely, said there was a 60 percent chance the award could be made today.
Lt. Col. Jennifer Cassidy, an Air Force spokeswoman, said the service was at pains to prevent a news leak. "We're very conscious of the stakes, so we're keeping this as 'close hold' as we can so as not to jeopardize the process," she said.
Congress killed an earlier $23.5 billion Air Force plan to lease 100 Boeing 767 tankers amid a procurement scandal that sent two former Boeing officials to prison and prompted the resignation of two senior Air Force officials.
The Air Force has sought to keep the current competition as transparent and scandal-free as possible, meeting repeatedly with the rival bidders to explain the strengths and weaknesses of their respective proposals. But defense officials still expect the losing side to protest the award, given its sheer size and a spate of recent decisions faulting the Air Force on other arms programs.
Reuters reported that EADS had already raised "substantial concerns" about the tanker acquisition process and changes in how the KC-30 was being evaluated, citing sources briefed on the discussions. Northrop and EADS declined to comment on the report.
Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley are scheduled to testify about the Air Force budget today before the House Armed Services Committee. They will testify regardless of whether the tanker contract has been awarded, said spokeswoman Lt. Col. Brenda Campbell. "That's not going to change," she said.