Sides forming in tanker deal

Despite a movement towards buying aerial tankers from both Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS, there’s still plenty of opposition and fence-sitting. The Mobile Press-Register reports that Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., blasted the split buy in an interview Monday. Meanwhile, Aviation Week reports that several key senators are not persuaded about the split. It says Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., as well as Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and E. Benjamin Nelson, D-Neb., are not taking a position yet. (Sources: Mobile Press Register, Aviation Week, 04/29/09) Gulf Coast note: Northrop/EADS plan to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala., if they win the contract.