U.S. congress will examine the decision of U.S. Air Force to pass over aerospace giant Boeing and award a 35-billion-U.S. dollar aircraft contract to Airbus parent EADS and Northrop Grumman, officials said Monday.
"The Air Force's decision to award the contract for a much-needed modernization of the nation's aerial tanker fleet to Northrop Grumman and Airbus raises serious questions that Congress must examine thoroughly," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
EADS, with major manufacturing facilities in France and Germany, teamed up with U.S. aerospace group Northrop Grumman to outbid Boeing for the job, which will bring with it thousands of high-paying jobs over many years.
The Air Force plans to buy 179 aircraft over 15 years to replace aging KC-135 tankers, which were built by Boeing. Tankers refuel fighter jets and other warplanes in midair.
Overturning the lucrative contract would not be easy as orthrop clearly outscored Boeing on major technical evaluation criteria and Air Force was determined to strictly follow its contract procedures, defence analyst Loren Thompson was quoted by media as saying on Monday.
Source: Xinhua/Agencies
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