Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Chicago Tribune
May 31, 2008 GAO decision seen affecting global sales
By Bloomberg News
Boeing Co., the second-largest U.S. defense contractor, said global orders for its 767 tanker plane will depend on the U.S. government's ruling on a $35 billion Air Force contract lost to Northrop Grumman Corp. and the parent of Airbus SAS.
"Most countries will be influenced by the decision the U.S. Air Force makes," Jim Albaugh, Boeing's defense-unit chief, told reporters at a Friday briefing in Singapore. "To a large degree, our ability to sell tankers internationally will depend on what happens in the U.S."
Chicago-based Boeing is protesting a U.S. Air Force aerial-refueling-tanker order given to Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. on Feb. 29, saying changes made midstream in the contest unfairly favored the competitors. Global sales account for 13 percent of total revenue at Boeing's defense unit, almost double the figure five years ago, Albaugh said.
Boeing's filing in March with the Government Accountability Office in Washington suspends the contract for as long as 100 days while the GAO conducts a review and hears a defense from the Air Force and winning bidders. Boeing will have to show that the choice of Los Angeles-based Northrop and Paris- and Munich-based EADS violated Pentagon procedures or U.S. law. A GAO decision is due June 19.
"There is going to be plenty of opportunities to sell 767 tankers in the event that the protest we have is sustained. and there is a recompetition. and we're fortunate enough to win that recompetition," Albaugh said.
Boeing shares rose 66 cents, to $82.77, Friday. The stock has dropped more than 3 percent since the loss of the tanker program.
The planemaker is seeking to expand in such overseas markets as India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia as defense spending in the U.S. wanes. Much of Boeing's estimated growth of up to 5 percent a year will come from outside the U.S., Albaugh said.
Northrop and EADS won a contract to supply 179 aircraft, to be named the KC-45A, that will replace Boeing-built KC-135 tankers flown by the Air Force since 1956.
May 31, 2008 GAO decision seen affecting global sales
By Bloomberg News
Boeing Co., the second-largest U.S. defense contractor, said global orders for its 767 tanker plane will depend on the U.S. government's ruling on a $35 billion Air Force contract lost to Northrop Grumman Corp. and the parent of Airbus SAS.
"Most countries will be influenced by the decision the U.S. Air Force makes," Jim Albaugh, Boeing's defense-unit chief, told reporters at a Friday briefing in Singapore. "To a large degree, our ability to sell tankers internationally will depend on what happens in the U.S."
Chicago-based Boeing is protesting a U.S. Air Force aerial-refueling-tanker order given to Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. on Feb. 29, saying changes made midstream in the contest unfairly favored the competitors. Global sales account for 13 percent of total revenue at Boeing's defense unit, almost double the figure five years ago, Albaugh said.
Boeing's filing in March with the Government Accountability Office in Washington suspends the contract for as long as 100 days while the GAO conducts a review and hears a defense from the Air Force and winning bidders. Boeing will have to show that the choice of Los Angeles-based Northrop and Paris- and Munich-based EADS violated Pentagon procedures or U.S. law. A GAO decision is due June 19.
"There is going to be plenty of opportunities to sell 767 tankers in the event that the protest we have is sustained. and there is a recompetition. and we're fortunate enough to win that recompetition," Albaugh said.
Boeing shares rose 66 cents, to $82.77, Friday. The stock has dropped more than 3 percent since the loss of the tanker program.
The planemaker is seeking to expand in such overseas markets as India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia as defense spending in the U.S. wanes. Much of Boeing's estimated growth of up to 5 percent a year will come from outside the U.S., Albaugh said.
Northrop and EADS won a contract to supply 179 aircraft, to be named the KC-45A, that will replace Boeing-built KC-135 tankers flown by the Air Force since 1956.