Reply #15: You should read a bit more before you

[OwnedByFerrets]

state some things as fact. It would have been ILLEGAL for the contract to go to Boeing.

"Air Force officials offered few details about why they choose the Northrop-EADS team over Boeing since they have yet to debrief the two companies. But Air Force Gen. Arthur Lichte said the larger size was key. "More passengers, more cargo, more fuel to offload," he said.

"It will be very hard for Boeing to overturn this decision because the Northrop plane seemed markedly superior" in the eyes of the Air Force, said Loren Thompson, a defense industry analyst with Lexington Institute, a policy think tank."

"Some analysts say the outcome should not have been a surprise. In a paper released Monday, Lexington Institute analyst Loren Thompson said that Northrop beat Boeing on virtually all points -- including capability, proposal risk, past performance, cost and ability to integrate with the rest of the air fleet.
Chart of BA
"So Northrop Grumman's victory was not a close outcome," Thompson commented. "Although both proposals satisfied all performance requirements, the reviewers concluded that if they funded the Northrop Grumman proposal they could have 49 superior tankers operating by 2013, whereas if they funded the Boeing proposal, they would have only 19 considerably less capable planes in that year."

"Secretary Michael Wynne told a congressional committee today the Airbus-Northrup Grumman plane will be less expensive and less risky than Boeing's 767 refueling plane."

And I will admit to being partial. I live in Mobile and am very pleased with all the new jobs this will bring to our area.

Many of the same ppl complaining about this contract will do so while driving Asian built cars and wearing clothes made by sweat shops in China. It just seems disingenuous to me.