So Boeing have managed it.. All that political lobbying has paid off, and now the Pentagon will apply a penalty to the Airbus bid for KC-X as part of the rules governing FY2011 Defense Budget contracts.. well they couldn't build a plane, they couldn't match a price, so they had to resort to the good ole boys network.. well done Boeing
Of course this now puts the USA in direct contravention of the WTO rules of pariticpation so presumably there will be some very serious backlash towards Uncle Sam??