Where the states fall in the Boeing-Northrop tanker battle …

Published 1:50 pm Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Yesterday, Gov. Chris Gregoire launched her U.S. Tanker 2010 coalition, which includes the support of governors from eight other states.

The coalition is lobbying for a Boeing Co.-built tanker in the U.S. Air Force’s $35 billion aerial refueling tanker contest.

Among the governors supporting Gregoire’s coalition is Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.

On one hand, Illinois support of Boeing isn’t surprising. Boeing’s headquarters are in Chicago.

On the other hand, Boeing’s competitor, Northrop Grumman and EADS, have been courting Illinois. In one of Northrop’s recent ad campaigns (see right), the defense contractor says that Illinois would get about 4,300 new direct and indirect jobs as a result of a Northrop win.

During Boeing’s 2008 tanker bid, the company said at KC-767 win would mean roughly 3,000 jobs to the state. Since Boeing hasn’t announced which tanker it’s offering, it’s unclear how much Illinois will benefit from a Boeing win.

Northrop Grumman, which has been headquartered in Los Angeles, announced in January that it will move its corporate offices to Washington, D.C. California, which stands to gain some 7,500 jobs from a Northrop win, didn’t join Gregoire’s coalition. (Boeing has more than 23,000 employees there).

South Carolina, which won Boeing’s second 787 production line over Everett, isn’t on Gregoire’s coalition list either. The state expects to get 3,000 jobs from the Boeing 787 line. But the scandal associated with S.C.’s governor might be a deterrent.

Gregoire’s aerospace advisor, Bill McSherry, tells me the governor stopped reaching out to others in the last few weeks as she prepared to launch U.S. Tanker 2010. But she will be in touch with more governors in the coming weeks.

And where does Alabama stand? , are in Washington, D.C. today to push for splitting the tanker contract between Boeing and Northrop.