Official: Refueling tanker rivals must show more 'maturity'

Airbus SAS and rival Boeing Co., along with their U.S. and European government allies, should exercise "maturity and discipline" in criticizing the selection of a contractor for the American military's $35 billion in-flight refueling tanker, the U.S. trade chief said.

The Pentagon recently restarted competition for the contract for the third time in nine years, after Boeing successfully contested the order's 2008 award to a partnership between Northrop Grumman Corp. and Airbus parent European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co.

Northrop decided not to bid in the current round, complaining that the bid request was structured to favor Boeing, its only rival for the project. EADS subsequently sought an extension to consider competing without its former partner.

"If you are effectively going to have a world in which you have only two main competitors, I think they have to show a little more maturity and discipline than to scream foul every time they lose," U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told journalists in Brussels today. "The reality is that with only two of them, they can't behave like a couple of teenagers, adolescents, that because I lose therefore it's unfair."

After Boeing's 2008 protest, the company said the U.S. Air Force made changes to the tanker bidding process so that Northrop and EADS could compete and "this distortion of the procurement process" led to Northrop's victory.

'Fair Chance'EADS Chief Executive Officer Louis Gallois, discussing current bidding on the tanker, said last week the company was frustrated that the "capability of our airplanes" wasn't recognized. EADS said it views the current bid request as favoring a smaller tanker than its original entry and will only compete if it has "a fair chance to win."U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, urged the Pentagon to reject EADS's request for an extension after a World Trade Organization ruling March 23 that members of the U.S. Congress said found some European Union aircraft subsidies to Toulouse, France-based Airbus were illegal."It's time to stop bending over backward to meet the demands of an illegally subsidized foreign company," said Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, home to Chicago-based Boeing's manufacturing hub. U.S. Representative Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican whose district includes Boeing manufacturing operations, said "giving a vital national security component like the aerial refueling tanker to a foreign entity is reckless and extremely dangerous."European ReactionEuropean officials including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown have said the U.S. didn't respect fair competition rules on the tender for the contract. Sarkozy, who blamed what he called protectionist rules designed to keep EADS out of the contest, plans to raise his concerns with President Barack Obama in Washington next week.Kirk declined to name any political leaders during his comments on criticisms of the tanker bidding process."All of us can be more careful in how we express our displeasure when we come out on the wrong end of these decisions," he said. "In a healthy competition in which you have a level playing field, sometimes you're going to come out on top, sometimes you're not."