WASHINGTON -- A European aerospace consortium and the Northrop Grumman Corp. won yesterday a $30 billion to $40 billion contract to begin replacing the Air Force's aging fleet of aerial tankers.
The decision to use an airplane built in Europe was a stunning setback for the Boeing Co. and it ignited an instant outcry on Capitol Hill. Chicago-based Boeing, which has built the Air Force's tankers for the past half-century, gave no indication whether it would appeal the award but said it was exploring its options.
Despite a major Pentagon procurement scandal, Boeing had been heavily favored to win the contract, which could be worth an estimated $100 billion as the Air Force replaces its fleet of roughly 530 mostly Eisenhower-era aerial tankers.
Air Force officials said the Northrop Grumman-European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. bid outpaced the one from Boeing in most areas. EADS is the parent company of Airbus, Boeing's main rival in the global commercial airplane market.
"More passengers, more cargo, more fuel offload, more patients that we can carry, more availability, more flexibility and more dependability," Gen. Arthur Lichte, commander of the Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, said of the Northrop Grumman-EADS KC-45A tanker.
Neither Lichte nor other Air Force officials would provide details on their evaluation of the competing bids.
The officials said they would debrief both companies in the next several weeks. They denied that the procurement scandal had tainted Boeing's bid.
"There was absolutely no bias in this award," said Sue Payton, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition.
The first planes would become operational in 2013, Lichte said, adding that he hoped there wouldn't be any delays from a Boeing protest or congressional actions.
"From a war fighter's point of view, we need to get on with this," Lichte said
Northrop Grumman-EADS said the contract would create 25,000 jobs involving 230 suppliers in 49 states.
Northrop employs nearly 11,000 in Maryland. On its Web site, the company said the tanker contract will generate work at its Electronic Systems unit in Linthicum, General Electric Co.'s Middle River Aircraft Systems and PerkinElmer Fluid Sciences in Beltsville.
The Northrop Grumman-EADS tanker is based on the newer Airbus A330 airframe. The planes are built in Toulouse, France, with final assembly planned at a new plant in Mobile, Ala.
