Thu, Sep 16, 2004
Airbus Lobbies Hard At Washington Expo
Airbus really, really wants to build
the next generation of US aerial refueling tankers. It's a deal
that Boeing thought was done until questions about the
Chicago-based company's ethics, numbers and the structure of a
lease-purchase arrangement drew a hailstorm of criticism and a
rethinking of the whole project at the Pentagon.
Airbus is making its pitch to the DoD at the Air & Space
Conference and Technology Exposition in Washington (DC). The
Seattle Times reports Airbus and its parent company, EADS, were
especially aggressive at the show, which ended on Wednesday.
The atmosphere at the Expo was strained by the fact that the
Boeing and Airbus booths were directly across an aisle from each
other. Executives from both companies could not only gather
intelligence about who was looking at what, but they could shoot
each other dirty looks when there weren't any customers around.
Boeing wants the government to go with its 767 as the platform
for replacing the aging KC-135 -- an aircraft older than most of
the crew members who serve on board. Airbus, on the other hand, is
offering up its A330 as an alternative.
"We're not here to kill the competition," said the man who
markets EADS tankers, Michael Folscheid. We're not here to capture
100 percent of the market," he said. "We're here to introduce our
product. We're here to introduce competition."
Boeing says the A330 is too big, that the Air Force can fit more
767s on any given ramp. Airbus points out the 767 itself is bigger
than the KC-135 both companies hope to replace.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has tasked the RAND
Corporation with coming up with recommendations on replacing the
tanker fleet -- or refurbishing the aircraft already in place.
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