Boeing Wins $35 Billion Tanker Plane Contract
The Washington Post reports:
The weapons contract, which will provide an estimated 50,000 jobs, is one of the biggest in history and by far the largest likely to be awarded under the Obama administration.
The long-awaited decision followed years of contentious jockeying and millions of dollars spent on advertising and lobbying by the two companies. Boeing and European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS), manufacturer of the Airbus, each had won the award once before, only to see it pulled back amid allegations of impropriety in the contracting process.
In the meantime, the Air Force's 500-strong tanker fleet has become dangerously decrepit. Many of the aircraft, refitted Boeing 707s from a half-century ago, are among the oldest jets still flying.
"Boeing was a clear winner," Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said at a brief Pentagon news conference announcing the decision. The first 18 of 179 planes, to be called KC-46A tankers, are to be delivered by 2017.
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