Free Republic

Europe's EADS has told the Pentagon of its possible interest in continuing to vie for a multibillion-dollar contract for a new U.S. aerial refueling fleet despite the end of a trans-Atlantic partnership formed to bid, the Pentagon said on Thursday.The Defense Department would welcome an EADS bid and would consider a "reasonable extension" to the May deadline for bids if necessary, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, in an emailed statement. Absent a bid involving Airbus parent EADS , rival Boeing Co is poised to win a sole-source contract to build up to 179 refueling planes and compete for...

Northrop Grumman, in partnership with EADS, will not offer a bid for the $35 billion KC-X tanker contract, citing a US Air Force request for proposal (RFP) it believes is weighted in favour of its competitor. "We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology defined in the RFP, which clearly favours Boeing's smaller refuelling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity," says Wes Bush, CEO of Northrop Grumman. Additionally, Bush says that Northrop has decided not to protest the selection...

Boeing unveiled the plane it will offer for the KC-X competition today, including a little movie and a press release. There was no mention of a 777 tanker, just the long-xpected 767. One of the more intriguing adds to the new bid was the news that the new tanker will boast “a digital flight deck featuring electronic displays” taken from the 787, Boeing’s most advanced civilian plane. It will “show all flight attitude, navigation, engine indication and crew-alerting information on screens 75 percent larger than on a commercial Airbus A330.” One can almost hear the Boeing folks crying: Take that...