EVERETT — The Boeing Co. submitted its bid this morning to the U.S. Air Force for a $35 billion aerial refueling tanker contract.
“Boeing has more than 60 years of experience developing, manufacturing and supporting tankers for America’s warfighters, and we’re ready to build the NewGen Tanker now,” said Dennis Muilenburg, president of Boeing Defense, Space &Security.
Boeing’s main rival for the tanker contract, EADS, submitted its offer Thursday.
Boeing supporters touted the company’s experience in building tankers during a rally in Everett today.
Standing in the Machinists hall across the road from Boeing’s massive Everett factory, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., asked, “What does the other guy have? An empty field in Alabama.”
EADS plans to assemble its tanker, based on an Airbus A330, in Mobile, Ala., where it will build a factory to do so.
Boeing’s backers also talked up the 767-based tanker’s technology. The company said its tanker meets or exceeds the Air Force’s “needs for transport of fuel, cargo, passengers and patients,” Boeing’s tanker has a digital flight deck like its new 787 Dreamliner and features a KC-10 refueling boom.
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., pointed out that the 767 tanker, which is lighter and smaller than EADS’ A330-based tanker, will save American taxpayers in the long haul.
“The Boeing plane saves fuel” to the tune of $10 billion spread out over the 40 years the tankers are expected to be in service, Dicks said. “And fuel costs will go up in the future,” he said.
He also pointed out the unknown extra costs that the A330 tanker will incur as the Department of Defense is forced to modify some of its bases to accommodate the bigger plane.
“This great big airplane will have to have all kinds of new facilities built all over the country,” Dicks said of the A330. “It’ll be billions in military construction that are not necessary if we have the 767.”
Dicks said he would push the Pentagon to consider those extra costs before it awards the contract.
Rep. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said they will continue to push to make the Air Force take into account illegal subsidies the World Trade Organization ruled that Airbus received to develop some of its planes, including the A330. EADS is the parent company of Airbus. The WTO is considering a similar allegation by Airbus against Boeing.
“The truth is, for too long you have had to compete not only against rival workers and companies, but you’ve had to compete against the treasuries of European countries,” Murray told the enthusiastic Machinists and Boeing engineers at the rally. “On a level playing field, no one — and I mean no one — is going to beat you out.”
“We’re not going to allow cheating in Europe to take away jobs in America,” Inslee said. “Finally, the whistle has been blown on their fouls.”
Boeing says its tanker will “support” 50,000 jobs in the United States.
The Air Force is expected to name a winner later this year.
“As with the new (737-based) P-8, we can deliver what we promise,” said Tom Wroblewski, president of the local Machinists union. “Let’s stop talking about the tanker and let’s start building it.”
Here’s what others are saying about Boeing’s tanker bid.
POLL: Who will win the Air Force tanker contest? Boeing or EADS?
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