EADS going after U.S. defense work

PARIS — The chief executive of Airbus parent company EADS said Wednesday that United States officials have changed their attitude and are now allowing — and even encouraging — competition from foreign companies in the aerospace and defense industries.

Louis Gallois — whose company is vying with American rival Boeing Co. for a politically charged $35 billion tanker deal — also underscored the importance of boosting EADS’ presence in the U.S.

“The attitude of the American authorities has changed,” Gallois told the audience at a debate organized by the French employer’s federation, or Medef.

EADS and its American partner Northrup Grumman Corp. won the contract to replace 179 aerial refueling tankers in February, but Boeing later filed a protest, prompting the Pentagon to reopen the deal.

Gallois said EADS needs to boost its presence in the U.S. to get access to the world’s biggest defense market and reduce its exposure to the dollar.

“There is a window of opportunity which allows us to get access to a much bigger number of sectors than in the past,” he said.

Boeing and its Capitol Hill supporters have charged that the Northrop partnership with a European company will siphon jobs away from the U.S. as the nation’s economy is swooning. But Northrop officials have said much of the work would be done domestically, with 1,500 jobs created in Alabama alone.

The refueling tanker competition was reopened after government auditors found “significant errors” in the Air Force’s decision. The revamped competition — overseen by Pentagon acquisition chief John Young — will focus on eight areas where the Government Accountability Office found problems.

The deal, one of the largest in Pentagon history, is the first of three contracts worth up to $100 billion to replace nearly 600 refueling tankers over the next 30 years.

Under the Pentagon’s current plan, both Boeing and Northrop are expected to respond to the bids request by Oct. 1, with a final contract award by the end of the year.