Need more proof that the $35 billion tanker dispute between Boeing, the Air Force and Northrop Grumman-EADS is far from over?
Case in point: Alabama Aircraft Industries announced today that it plans to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force for awarding a $1.1 billion contract to Boeing to maintain the agency’s existing fleet of tankers (the ones Boeing wants to replace in the $35 billion deal).
Alabama Aircraft will file its lawsuit in U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The company previously had appealed the Air Force decision to the Government Accountability Office (as Boeing appealed the Northrop-EADS win of the KC-X contract). The GAO sided with Alabama Aircraft twice, recommending the Air Force reevaluate the companies’ proposals. Earlier this month, the GAO denied Alabama Aircraft’s third protest.
“We believe that the Air Force’s award of the KC-135 maintenance contract to Boeing is significantly flawed,” said Ron Aramini, the aerospace company’s president, in a statement
Is this what we should expect in the battle between Northrop-EADS and Boeing?
Be sure to vote in our poll which asks whether Boeing and Northrop-EADS should split the contract replacing 179 aerial refueling tankers.
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