Washington, D.C.
"The Air Force has made a big mistake," Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA) grumbled after the House Appropriations Committee met to look into the Pentagon’s decision to have a huge contract for the building of 179 aerial refueling tankers, worth some $40 billion over ten years, awarded--not to Boeing, the world’s leading aircraft producers, but to a consortium of Europe’s EADS corporation and the U.S.’s Northrop Grumman.
Wanting to replace its aging fleet of tankers, the Airforce received a bid from Boeing, offering its latest model, and from EADS and Northrop Grumman, offering a design based upon Airbus’ A330 frame. Before the Pentagon announced its choice, it was widely expected that Boeing would be the winning bidder. After all, for the past fifty years, Boeing has held a monopoly on the production of America’s fleet of aerial tankers.
The announcement came as a big surprise to most American and European observers of the military aircraft industry who did not expect a European-American consortium to be entrusted with the procurement of such a crucial support system for the U.S. arsenal.
Eight years ago the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) was created by merging Germany’s Daimler Chrysler Aerospace, France’s Aérospatiale-Matra, and Spain’s Construcciones Aeronáuticas, into a trinational consortium to develop and market aircraft--both civil and military--missiles, space rockets, and satellites. EADS’ most spectacular achievement so far has been the Airbus A380, a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine, long-range airliner for 555 passenger. Northrop proved its capabilities as a leading aircraft designer and manufacturer when its “Flying Wing” concept culminated in the production of the B-2 stealth bomber.
Nevertheless, the participation of EADS, Europe’s biggest aircraft manufacturer, in the production of a new generation of aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. is bound to be widely criticized by those who believe that all equipment for national defense should be produced only by U.S. companies on U.S. soil. The president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers hastily complained that “The decision means billions of taxpayer dollars will be used to create and sustain jobs in foreign countries, rather than here in the U.S."
In the meantime, however, EADS announced that the tankers and A330 cargo planes will be assembled at a plant in Mobile, Alabama. EADS, moreover, is now likely to move more of its production to the U.S. to take advantage of the lower cost caused by the cheaper dollar. Thousands of new jobs are likely to be created not only in Alabama but also in Southern California.
Regrettably, a corruption scandal reduced Boeing’s chances to get
the award when it was discovered that a Boeing executive offered the Air Force’s chief acquisitions officer a job with the company after she gave sensitive information about the EADS offer to Boeing. Congress had frequently demanded that the Pentagon stick to competitive bidding and avoid collusion with bidders.
Comparing the new tankers to the current fleet, the U.S. Air Mobility Commander explained the main reasons for the award: "From my perspective, I can sum it up in one word: 'more'. More passengers, more cargo, more fuel to off-load, more patients that we can carry, more availability, more flexibility, and more dependability." The defenders of the inclusion of a European producer in the bidding process also point out that since World War II U.S. arms producers have been the dominant suppliers of major equipment for our European allies and, until the recent arrival of EADS, Boeing in particular has dominated the market for long-range civilian aircraft.
If we Americans believe in competition and even playing fields in international trade, we can hardly deny foreigners equal access to our domestic markets, certainly not to our allies.