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| Air tanker deal provokes US row |
| Boeing's loss of a $40bn contract to build a new in-flight refuelling aircraft for the US military has drawn angry protests in Congress
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 1-March-2008
2:32:34 AM |
| Lawmakers from Washington state and Kansas, which have big Boeing plants, voiced "outrage" that it had gone to a consortium including Europe's Airbus.
The planes will be assembled in Alabama but constructed largely in Europe.
Boeing has said it is awaiting an explanation from the military before deciding whether or not to appeal.
The new aircraft, named the KC-45A by the US Air Force, is based on the Airbus A330 and will be manufactured in partnership with US defence firm Northrop Grumman.
Its job will be to refuel the vast array of US warplanes and the contract is worth in the region of $40bn over 15 years.
It is a huge blow for Boeing, the BBC's Vincent Dowd reports from Washington.
America has around two-thirds of all such aircraft in use anywhere, and a senior figure in the company said recently if it lost this contract it could be out of the refuelling market totally for years.
'Outsourcing'
Gen Arthur J Lichte, commander of the US Air Force's Air Mobility Command, said the winning design had many advantages over Boeing's tanker.
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