Boeing Just Won't 'Go Away'
This from a Canadian paper.
Boeing bleeds red, white and blue over lost contract(Globe and Mail) After a big government contract award, the loser quietly retreats while the winner pops the champagne.
That's the way it's supposed to happen, anyway.
Not so with the $40-billion (U.S.) deal to replace the U.S. Air Force's fleet of 180 refuelling tanker jets – essentially airborne gas stations.
The Feb. 29 decision to hand the largest Pentagon purchase in years to Northrop Grumman Corp. and European Aeronautic Defence and Space, the Franco-German maker of the Airbus, over hometown favourite Boeing Co. has unleashed a surprisingly ferocious lobbying war.
Boeing simply refuses to go away. It has filed a rare protest with the Government Accountability Office, alleging a flawed procurement process. It has also unleashed an army of lobbyists and launched a public relations blitz, including spending $3-million on full-page newspaper ads, to convince people the Pentagon is buying the wrong plane.
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