Pentagon relaunches tanker competition

The Pentagon is relaunching a competition for the $35 billion fleet of aerial tankers. Boeing is vying for the contract against a team made up of Northrop Grumman and Airbus parent EADS. The contract for 179 plans is the first of three acquisition stages. Lawmakers will be briefed on the draft request for proposal at 11 a.m. Thursday, and reporters will be briefed at 4 p.m. It will be made public Friday. (Sources: Reuters via New York Times, Mobile Press-Register, 09/24/09) Gulf Coast note: The Northrop/EADS team wants to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala.