Senator favors deliberate tanker review

Daniel Inouye, head of the U.S. Senate's defense appropriations subcommittee, said Congress should go slowly in reviewing the award of a $40 billion aerial-refueling tanker program to Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus that is being challenged by Boeing.

"We just don't have all the facts" and should be reluctant to cut off funds for the program, Inouye, D-Hawaii, said after his subcommittee heard from Air Force officials on its choice of Northrop and European Aeronautic, Defence & Space, or EADS. The panel reviewed the Air Force's budget for the next fiscal year at Wednesday's hearing.

Boeing, which has been providing air tankers for the military for about 50 years, protested the award Tuesday in an appeal to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It said the selection of Northrop and EADS is unfair.

"The proper thing to do is to wait until a decision is rendered" by the GAO, Inouye said. The agency said it hoped to complete the review by June 18. "As far as I am concerned, I would like to see the process completed before we take action," Inouye said.

The remarks by Inouye, whose subcommittee chairmanship gives him an important role in the controversy, contrast with those made last week by his House counterpart, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.

Murtha said his panel might cut off funds for the contract unless the Air Force makes a compelling case for the Northrop-EADS team.

"The political implications are important," Murtha said. "All this committee has to do is stop the money and this program is not going forward."

The House and Senate would have to agree on a cutoff in funds for it to take effect. Some members of Congress have said they are considering blocking appropriations for the Northrop-EADS contract to protect U.S. jobs. Northrop and EADS plan to do about 40 percent of their work in Europe on the 179-plane order.

At Wednesday's hearing, Inouye pressed unsuccessfully for an answer from the Air Force on what he called "one basic question:" How many foreign parts are included in the losing Boeing aircraft?

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne promised to provide the answer.

"How can we make a decision without knowing all the facts?" Inouye said. While it is obvious that Boeing's aircraft contain foreign parts, he said, "we don't know where and what."

Boeing spokesman Bill Barksdale said that the foreign-made parts in its tanker are about 15 percent of the plane.

That includes about 9 percent from Japan for fuselage skin panels and main landing gear, cargo and passenger entry doors; 3 percent from Italy, including ailerons, elevators and the rudder; and 1 percent from the U.K. for the leading edge of the aircraft's wing.