Tanker tough talk continues

Analyst Loren Thompson takes a look at the strained relationship between the Boeing Co. and the U.S. Air Force in a recent defense brief.

Boeing, of course, has protested the Air Force’s decision to award a multi-billion dollar aerial refueling tanker contract to competitor Northrop Grumman and its partner EADS. As the parent company of Airbus, EADS has promised not only to assemble the A330-based tankers in Mobile, Ala., but also to assemble Airbus A330 freighters there as well.

Thompson notes that the loss of the contract was doubly difficult on Boeing, which sees its refueling tanker business slipping away while its commercial rival makes the leap to U.S. soil.

Boeing has turned to the “It doesn’t add up” campaign, which questions the Air Force’s rationale. Northrop counters with its “Why we won” series.

The GAO should come out with its take on Boeing’s protest in mid-June. But that might not put an end to the dispute as members of Congress seem intent to have their say. As vice chairman on a subcommittee on defense appropriations, Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., has threatened, to block funding for Northrop and EADS-built tankers. While Boeing supporters in St. Louis urge Congress to intervene, some closer to home here in Washington caution against such an unprecedented step.