By Marina Malenic
The North American division of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) has lowered the price of its offering for the U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tanker competition, company officials said yesterday.
“We submitted what we think is a very competitive price proposal,” EADS North America Chairman Ralph Crosby told reporters during a briefing in Washington. He added that the company “did in fact revise our proposal, and our price.”
Crosby declined to specify pricing details but said the company was able to reduce the price because of expected rates of production for the Airbus A330 jetliner on which the EADS tanker would be based, as well as lower development costs.
A contract award in the politically charged contest is expected in two to three weeks, according to Pentagon officials.
EADS and rival Boeing [BA] last week submitted final proposals for the multibillion- dollar KC-X competition (Defense Daily, Feb. 11).
Boeing’s proposal offers a fleet of 767-based aircraft, while EADS North America is pitching the KC-45, based on the Airbus A330 MRTT.
Late last year, Air Force officials said the decision would come early in 2011. The service at that time sought to “level the playing field” after inadvertently providing the companies data about each other’s bids by later intentionally releasing the information to the firms (Defense Daily, Dec. 2).
Neither Boeing nor EADS officials have ruled out legally protesting the release of the information (Defense Daily, Nov. 23).
Crosby said yesterday that he did not expect a protest “unless there is something egregious” in the selection process.
The contest is the Air Force’s second attempt to replace its Eisenhower-era tankers. Boeing successfully protested a previous win by EADS NA and then-partner Northrop Grumman [NOC].