Tanker Truths

20 Mar 2008
Erroneous Statements by Opponents of Northrop Grumman
In an editorial published today, after meeting Wednesday with Senator Patty Murray, D-WA., and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-WA., The Seattle Times repeated several erroneous statements that are being made by opponents of Northrop Grumman's winning bid to construct the next generation of aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force. Those misstatements are corrected below.

Allegation: Citing a conversation with Murray and Larsen, The Seattle Times writes that "the Air Force's specifications were changed" to give Northrop Grumman "a better chance" of winning the contract.

Fact: No matter how many times this statement is made it is false. The Air Force issued numerous Requests For Information to both Northrop Grumman and Boeing, as well as draft Requests For Proposals (RFPs) from each bidder before issuing a final RFP. Both Northrop Grumman and Boeing were constantly updated on the Air Force's criteria for the contract award, and no changes were made to those criteria after the final RFP was issued to both companies. At a February 29 news conference announcing Northrop Grumman's win, Assistant Air Force Secretary for Acquisition Sue Payton noted that the bidding process was "incredibly open and transparent and rigorous. For months and months, we have been telling each offeror where their weaknesses are, where their strengths were, and so they've had a lot of opportunity to communicate with us and to make sure we were not talking past each other."

Allegation: The Seattle Times editorial alleges that EADS, NV - Northrop Grumman's European partner - "gets direct cash subsidies to launch new airplanes," implying that Northrop Grumman and Airbus gained an unfair advantage over Boeing through this arrangement.

Fact: EADS does not receive any cash subsidies from European governments. Instead, EADS received loans to assist it in aircraft design and construction, and loans related to the A-330 - the aircraft frame on which the KC-45A tanker is based - were completely repaid, with interest, over a year ago. All such loans have always been listed in detail on EADS' publicly-available financial documents.

The editorial does note that tankers "can move anything that may be carried on airplanes - bombs, perhaps, or an Army brigade - anywhere in the world - quickly."

Fact: As The Wall Street Journal noted in a March 19 story after examining Air Force records related to Northrop Grumman's winning bid, Northrop Grumman won because the Air Force preferred the size and versatility of the Northrop Grumman tanker.

Correction: Yesterday's "Northrop Grumman KC-45A Tanker Truths" incorrectly listed Assistant Air Force Secretary for Acquisition Sue Payton's title.

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