EADS North America announced that it will not protest the U.S. Air Force’s selection of the Boeing offering in the competition to replace the aging fleet of KC-135 aerial refueling tankers.
The company expressed appreciation to the Air Force for running a competition consistent with the rules set out in its Request for Proposal.
“While we are obviously disappointed that our men and women in uniform are not getting the most capable tanker available, we will not take any action that could further delay the already overdue replacement of the Air Force’s aging tanker fleet,” said EADS North America Chairman Ralph D. Crosby, Jr. “The bid that we submitted was substantially lower than was submitted in the last competition. Our bid reflected a sound business case and offered a reasonable return to our shareholders.” “We’re also proud that our involvement in the competition resulted in very significant savings to taxpayers,” Crosby said.
EADS North America’s analysis determined that the KC-X bid submitted by Boeing was nearly $16 billion less for 179 aircraft compared to its original tanker lease offer to the Air Force in 2002, when normalized for escalation and differences in aircraft quantities and requirements.
The U.S. Air Force also confirmed that the EADS North America tanker was judged to be superior in capability to the Boeing offering as measured by the service’s fleet effectiveness rating.
EADS North America is prime contractor on the Coast Guard’s HC-144A Ocean Sentry maritime patrol aircraft, and the UH-72A Lakota helicopter for the Army and Navy. More than 150 Lakotas have been delivered from the company’s helicopter production center in Columbus, Miss.
Source: EADS