By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

At a press conference Tuesday, delegates from Alabama led by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said they are disappointed with the Pentagon and U.S. Air Force’s Request For Proposal (RFP) for a next-generation aerial refueling tanker, the KC-X, arguing that the RFP is biased towards the manufacturer Boeing.

Also bidding for the KC-X is defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which if chosen by the Pentagon to carry out the project, plans to build a new assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama.

Rep. Jo Bonner, (R-Ala.), whose Congressional district includes Mobile, says the new plant would create nearly 48,000 new jobs in his state.

“We look forward to build the world’s best tanker…but that’s only if the Department of Defense is serious about giving us a fair shot and fair competition,” Bonner said.

Yesterday, every delegate from Alabama signed a letter that was sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates requesting a new draft of the proposal. The letter argues that the RFP lacks an “assessment of risk associated with either schedule, past performance or price.”

The letter also states that the some of the RFP’s new requirements for the tanker could be satisfied by the KC-135 refueling tanker, which was designed over 50 years ago.

In February 2008, the U.S. Air Force chose Northrop Grumman’s bid for the KC-X project, but later that year the Department of Defense halted the project.

“This new request for proposal has changed…in so many ways. And in just about all those ways, it is tilting the process towards Boeing,” said Shelby.

George Landrith of Frontiers of Freedom, speaking for a coalition of groups opposed to a recent Air Force contract to the European-based company EADS, asks why the United States should trust military contracts to companies subsidized by European nations “frequently at odds with the United States.” (0:31)

 

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Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, who was also a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under Reagan, says that a letter sent from John McCain to Robert Gates may have played a role in the selection of one defense contractor over another for a refueling tanker contract. (0:29)

 

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At a press conference at the National Press Club coalition of conservative think tanks expressed their concern over the Air Force’s award of the aerial tanker refueling plane contract to the European Aeronautic Defense, and Space consortium. Participants were Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, who was also a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under Reagan. George Landrith of Frontiers of Freedom and Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring, Jim Martin the National Defense Council Foundation and 60 Plus. (more…)