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Senate panel OKs initial tanker funding

BY ERIC ROSENBERG

Hearst Newspapers

WASHINGTON - An Airbus consortium cleared a key legislative hurdle this week when lawmakers announced that the Senate Armed Services Committee has approved start-up funding for a new fleet of Air Force tankers.

"This is great news for the tanker project," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., a committee member whose state stands to gain employment from the program. Airbus plans to build a tanker manufacturing facility in Mobile, Ala.

Supporters of Boeing Co.' s losing bid to build the planes have said they will attempt to halt the program through congressional action.

But Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate committee, said that he would not support any such action before the Government Accountability Office rules in mid-June on the merits of an appeal from Boeing. Boeing claims that the Air Force erroneously selected the Airbus team for the multibillion-dollar program.

"We are not going to prejudge the (tanker) debate," Levin said. "We need the GAO to reach an independent decision on the appeal. Everybody ought to wait for that."

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., a senior Republican on the committee, said that any effort by Boeing supporters to eliminate tanker funding when the full Senate takes up the committee bill later this month would be "vigorously opposed."

The Air Force stunned the aerospace industry Feb. 29 by choosing a team of Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. --the parent company of Airbus -- to build a fleet of mid-air refueling tankers.

The initial program is valued at around $35 billion but could grow to $100 billion if the consortium wins future Air Force orders.

Boeing's appeal to the GAO -- the investigative arm of Congress -- centers on its claim that the Air Force switched airplane size requirements, initially seeking bids for a medium-sized tanker but later selecting a much larger aircraft based on the Airbus A330 commercial jet.

The Senate panel's tanker provision was included in a $542.5 billion military spending bill for next year that was approved behind closed doors.

Boeing supporters in the House hope that they will have more success in their efforts to halt the Airbus tanker project.

Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said last month that the House defense appropriations subcommittee -- of which he is the vice chairman -- will intervene to halt the Airbus tanker contract.

"We are going to try to eliminate the funding," Dicks said, and push to "start this thing over again."

Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, also a member of the House defense appropriations panel, said last month, "I don't think the current contract can go forward."

The Pentagon has warned Boeing supporters against attempting to remove tanker funds just because their favored contractor did not win.

"These are slippery slopes and dangerous precedents," said John Young, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

"It is going to be dangerous to set aside valid source selections on a political basis. Do we have the California delegation kill a program because the Georgia delegation won? Where does that stop?"