U.S. Defense Dept. awards huge aerospace deal

Washington — Capping a decade of delays and embarrassing missteps, the U.S. Air Force awarded to Boeing Co. one of the biggest defence contracts ever, a $35 billion deal to build nearly 200 giant airborne refuelling tankers. The decision on Thursday was a major blow to Europe’s aviation giant EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.

The contract will mean tens of thousands of jobs for a recession-weary United States, with huge numbers going specifically to Washington state on the West Coast and Kansas in the U.S. heartland, getting the bulk of the work building a replacement for the 1950s-era tanker fleet. The decision was a blow to the Gulf Coast and Alabama, which had been counting on EADS to assemble the aircraft at a long-shuttered military base in Mobile, Alabama.

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said the contract “represents a long overdue start to a much-needed program” as somewhat relieved Pentagon officials announced the decision, a clear surprise as defence analysts, lawmakers and even company executives had expected EADS to prevail.

“What we can tell you was that Boeing was a clear winner,” said Deputy Defence Secretary William Lynn.

Replacing the KC-135 planes, the equivalent of a flying gasoline station, is crucial for the U.S. military. Pilots who were not even born when the last aircraft was delivered in 1965 are operating air tankers that the Pentagon is struggling to keep in flying shape.

The refuelling tankers allow jet fighters, supply planes and other aircraft to cover long distances, critical with fewer overseas bases and operations far from the United States in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pentagon leaders said both bidders met all 372 mandatory requirements for the contract. They said because the difference in price between the two bids was greater than 1 per cent of the total, the cost was essentially the deciding factor and other non-mandatory requirements were not used to make the decision.

The award gives Boeing the initial $3.5 billion for engineering, manufacturing and development of the first four aircraft. Under the contract, 18 tankers will be delivered to the Air Force by 2017.

The $35 billion contract calls for producing 179 tankers. Boeing would base the tanker on its model 767 aircraft.

The amount could end up being a first installment on a $100 billion deal if the Air Force should decide to buy more aircraft.

Through the years, the Air Force’s efforts to award the contract have been undone by Pentagon bungling and the criminal conviction of a top Defence Department official.

Initially, the Air Force planned to lease and buy Boeing planes to serve as tankers, but that fell through. The Air Force later awarded a contract to Northrop and EADS, but in 2008 the Government Accountability Office upheld Boeing’s protest of the contract.

The GAO said it found “a number of significant errors” in the Air Force’s decision, including its failure to judge fairly the relative merits of each proposal.

The Air Force reopened the bidding in 2010 only to be embarrassed again as it mistakenly gave Boeing and EADS sensitive information that contained each other’s confidential bids.

Production will occur in Everett, Washington, Wichita, Kansas, and dozens of other states where hundreds of jobs will be created. Boeing has said that the contract will mean some 50,000 jobs.

Boeing workers leaving the Everett plant after shift change Thursday afternoon greeted the news with blaring car horns.

“We are absolutely delighted, obviously,” said Bill Dugovitch, spokesman for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, the union representing Boeing’s engineers and technical workers. “Our work force is ready to go to produce the world’s best tankers.”

Associated Press writers George Tibbits in Seattle, Washington, Bob Johnson in Mobile, Alabama, Josh Freed in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Chris Rugaber and Ben Evans in Washington contributed to this report.

© 2011 The Canadian Press