News 5 has learned the Air Force selected Northorp Grumman and EADS to build its new fleet of Air Refuelers. They beat out Boeing, who supplied the military with its current tanker, the KC-135. Friday's news comes as a great win to Mobile. It means 15-hundred new high-tech jobs and a 600 million dollar facility to Brookley Field. State and Local leaders have worked for three years to be competitive in this 40 billion dollar contract against industry favorite Boeing. The decision was anticipated all week.
On Thursday, Reuters released a story claiming that the Air Force changed some of its criteria in the contest a few weeks ago. That change led to a lower score for the Northrop team. Neither side would comment on the change in criteria.
Boeing was originally supposed to assemble the tankers. In 2001, Boeing was chosen to lease tankers to the Air Force. Congress canceled that deal after discovering that the company and the Air Force worked together to jack up the prices. The deal sent two Boeing executives to prison.
The Air Force promised that the current contest would be based on merit and not politics. The losing side is expected to protest the decision. That protest could put the assembly of the new fleet on hold for up to two years. We will have more on this story and local reaction about the annoucement on News 5 and wkrg.com
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