Senator attacks air force selection of EADS

The decision to award the $35bn refuelling tanker contract to EADS runs counter to US trade policy, a top US senator said on Thursday.

The US Air Force’s selection of EADS over Boeing was “extremely disappointing and egregious”, said Pat Roberts, the Republican former chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee.

Mr Roberts said it “defies common sense” that the air force made the decision while the US was pursuing a case against Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS, at the World Trade Organisation for government subsidies.

“This is an outrage. It truly makes me question our trade agenda,” the Kansas senator told the Senate finance committee, which was hearing testimony from Susan Schwab, the US trade representative.

Ms Schwab, the top Bush administration official on trade, said her agency had briefed the air force early on in the process on the WTO case, but was not involved in the decision. “We will continue to pursue this case as vigorously as ever,” she said.

Mr Roberts’s attack on the air force follows a spate of criticism in Congress.

The decision had stunned most analysts, who expected Boeing, which has supplied the US military with inflight refuelling tankers for five decades, to win the competition. The deal could ultimately be worth more than $100bn as the air force replaces its entire tanker fleet of about 600 aircraft.

Lawmakers have said the decision could damage US national security, although EADS counters that some parts of the Boeing tanker are made in Japan and Italy.

They have also attacked the outcome, saying it will cost US jobs. Politicians from the states of Washington and Kansas, where Boeing has facilities, have been among the most vocal critics of the decision.

Sue Payton, the top air force acquisitions official, told Congress this week that federal acquisition law barred the air force from considering the contribution each bid made to the US economy.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, later supported that assessment, saying the air force had conducted a “fair competition” based on the law. He suggested Congress reconsider acquisition laws if it wanted the military to consider issues such as jobs.

Boeing has not decided whether to lodge a protest over the decision with the Government Accountability Office, the oversight arm of Congress. On Friday, it will be briefed by the air force on the reasons why it lost out on the contract to EADS. It will then have 10 days to file its protest with the GAO in a move that could reopen the competition but many analysts believe would have little chance of success.