France expresses anger over AF tanker contest - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

France expresses anger over AF tanker contest

PARIS — European governments have the right to ask Washington for explanations on the Air Force tanker tender following Northrop Grumman’s decision not to bid, the French Defense Ministry said Thursday.

“For the Defense Ministry, it is difficult to understand how an aircraft that was declared in 2008 to respond perfectly to American needs no longer meets these needs after a modification of the tender,” Gen. Christian Baptiste, deputy spokesman for the Defense Ministry, told journalists.

In its bid for the $35 billion Air Force contract to build aerial refueling planes, Northrop teamed up with EADS to offer a tanker plane based on the Airbus A330. Airbus is a subsidiary of EADS, the European defense and aerospace group, and it is headquartered in Blagnac, France.

Chicago-based Boeing has offered a converted version of its 767 airliner.

“European leaders have had the occasion to raise the problem [with the Northrop-EADS bid] several times with the American authorities, and faced with this situation, the European countries can legitimately ask for an explanation,” Baptiste said.

In other reaction to Northrop’s withdrawal from the tanker contest, EADS Chairman Louis Gallois refused to rule out going ahead with another partner on the bid, even though it was highly unlikely.

Asked on French radio station RTL if his company’s exit from the competition was definitive, Gallois said the decision had been made by its U.S partner, Northrop, which knows the U.S. market very well.

“If we want to stay in, we would have to find another American partner, because there is some extremely sensitive equipment in that plane which we can’t supply,” he said. “We need an American partner, but can you find another partner in 60 days and set up the bid? That seems highly improbable.”

Gallois said the tender terms were “biased,” as they gave a decisive advantage to Boeing’s smaller aircraft. In the absence of a competition, the American taxpayer would pay more for the tanker fleet, he said.

Asked if the protest by European governments was in vain, he said, “Let’s see. We can’t prejudice the future. Maybe the Americans will extend the competition; you never know.”

The French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported Wednesday on its Web site that French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to raise the tanker issue with President Obama when they meet in Washington at the end of the month.

Gallois said he understood that was Sarkozy’s intention, although he had not had direct contact with the French president.

Northrop announced Monday its decision to pull out of the tanker competition, in view of what it said were terms in the request for proposals that favor the Boeing 767.

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