Analyst: EADS will win tanker

EADS will beat Boeing in the competition to build tankers for the Air Force, according to a defense analyst who's been a Boeing advocate. The Mobile Press-Register reports that Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said Boeing executives concluded EADS is ahead after getting a look at the Air Force's internal analysis of the two competing bids. The Air Force expects to announce a winner for the $40 billion competition early next year. If it wins, EADS plans to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 12/06/10; Follow-up reports appeared in the Seattle Times and Seattle PI)