I got an anonymous tip earlier today, claiming a “100% reliable source” within the US Air Force let slip that Boeing has won the lucrative $40 billion refueling tanker contract. I didn’t run with it because, well, it was an anonymous tip — not just anonymous to you, but anonymous to me — so it could have been any joker. And good thing I didn’t run with it too, because now the Seattle Times reports that Airbus has won the tanker deal, citing “a respected and well-connected defense analyst close to the Air Force tanker deal.”
Man, that sucks. Yet another poke in the eye from the Bush administration.
UPDATE:
From the P-I:
In its quest for new tankers, the Air Force in 2002 negotiated a $23 billion deal with Boeing for a hundred 767 tankers, but it quickly came under fire in Congress as a financial handout for Boeing. The critics were led by Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time and is now the likely Republican presidential nominee.
Gee, thanks Sen. McCain. Maybe some folks on the 767 assembly line will remember that next November as they ponder their future.