Debriefing will determine next step

EADS will decide after a debriefing on Monday whether it will appeal a decision by the Air Force to buy aerial tankers from rival Boeing. EADS has 10 days after that meeting to appeal with the Government Accountability Office, and GAO has to rule within 100 days. EADS had said before the announcement that it will appeal only if it found "egregious" problems. The $35 billion contract to build 179 tankers for the Air Force was seen by EADS as a chance to increase its share of the lucrative U.S. defense market. EADS would have built a $600 million plant in Mobile, Ala., to assemble not only tankers, but Airbus freighters. EADS is also the world's largest manufacturer of helicopters, and has a plant in Columbus, Miss., that builds helicopters for the U.S. military. (Source: Tcp, 02/25/11)