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EDITORIAL: Tanker contract up to senators and Bonner
Sunday, October 1, 2006
That's why Alabama's two senators, Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, and Mobile's congressman, Jo Bonner, must lead the political fight against Boeing Co. on Capitol Hill.
As the Press-Register editorial board has said before, the competition for the huge defense contract to supply aerial refueling tankers to the Air Force ought to be decided based on who has the best aircraft for the job.
In many ways, the best aircraft appears to be the KC-30, which is based on the Airbus A330. Airbus is a branch of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., which is partnering with Northrop Grumman on the tanker project.
But a majority of top defense and aerospace analysts interviewed have told the Press-Register they think the winner in the competition for the contract will be Boeing, not Northrop Grumman -- even though Northrop Grumman insists that the KC-30 is the most advanced, best-designed aircraft for the job.
Boeing is offering the KC-767, but the company is expected to stop building the 767 if it loses out to Northrop Grumman. Boeing has also trotted out a KC-777, which may be bigger than the Air Force needs and hasn't been built yet.
The KC-30 holds about 25 percent more fuel than the KC-767, and can carry 80 more passengers and 10 more cargo pallets. It's not too big, though, to meet the Air Force's needs and land on airstrips that may be too short for larger tankers.
Most recently, EADS has reportedly sold tanker versions of the Airbus A330 to Great Britain, Australia and Saudi Arabia, although the latter contract has not been announced.
But Boeing is highly skilled at the games of public relations and politics, and it has benefited from the controversy over the "foreign country" involvement of EADS. The analysts interviewed by the Press-Register said the perception of the KC-30 as being a French aircraft helps Boeing and hurts Northrop Grumman.
It's up to Rep. Bonner and Sens. Sessions and Shelby to cut through that smokescreen in Congress. Northrop Grumman is based in Los Angeles; the KC-30s would be built in Mobile. EADS, obviously, is not an American company, but attitudes and policies of economic isolationism have no place in today's global market.
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