Can someone provide an accurate assessment of who the prime contractor is for this award?
Is it Northrop-EADS or is it EADS-Northrop?
Is it Northrop-EADS or is it EADS-Northrop?
I think it's Northrup/Grumman-EADS. Northrop/Grumman is the lead contractor, and they are the company that actually designed the equipment that actually makes the plane a tanker rather than just a cargo plane. The bid rules required that the planes had to be built in the US by a US company, and that US company had to be the lead contractor. Northrup/Grumman sought out EADS to supply the airframe, because there's really just two choices for large commercial transport airframes Boeing or Airbus. Northrup/Grumman has experience putting complex military systems in other manufacturers aircraft.
Grumman before it merged with Northrup built the E-8 which does for coordinating ground combat what the E-3 AWACS does for air combat. The biggest problem they had with the program was putting it on used 707 airframes that had been retired by airlines. By the time they refurbished them and replaced all the corroded metal, they spent more money than they would have if the USAF had bought brand new 707 airframes off the E-3 line. By the time the problems with the old air frames became apparent, Boeing had already closed the 707 line with the completion of the last E-6 aircraft for the US Navy.
Boeing had its own aircraft and had partnered with other companies for systems for its tanker bid.