Boeing wins tanker contract

Boeing beat out EADS North America for the $35 billion contract to build 179 aerial tankers for the U.S. Air Force, officials said Thursday. Michael Donley, secretary of the Air Force, made the formal announcement at the Pentagon. He said the first 18 aircraft, designated KC-46A, will be delivered by 2017. "This is a sad day," Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a gathering in Mobile, Ala., which would have assembled the tankers had EADS won. The modified Boeing 767s will be built in Washington State and Kansas and create 50,000 jobs in the United States. The decision was based on price. Boeing's was more than 1 percent below EADS' price, so non-mandatory capabilities were not taken into consideration. In 2008 Boeing lost the competition to EADS, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., but a protest was upheld by the General Accountability Office. The Air Force has been trying to replace its fleet of Eisenhower-era KC-135s for more than a decade. (Source: Tcp, 02/24/11)