They don't need to do anything. All Ilyushin has to do is meet the minimum performance standard and be 1% cheaper.
I thought this was a joke—but maybe the Russians are serious about getting some US defense money flowing to Moscow. They do have experience building large ships. Would it be as good as the French Plane?
I think you give them more credit than they are due. I don’t think Congress has the habit of awarding such contracts on the basis of cost effectiveness or practicality....they dont for anything else, so they wont for THIS.