Reacting to the House’s May 27 vote making World Trade Organization rulings a factor in the Air Force’s KC-X tanker competition, EADS North America reiterated its stance that the Pentagon “should be allowed to run the fair and open competition” to which it has committed. “We leave it to the Department to comment on the extent to which this or any legislation impacts that objective,” EADS spokesman James Darcy told the Daily Report. He added that the company remains committed “to competing on the merits” if its tanker. Meanwhile, Boeing hailed the House’s vote, calling such measures “entirely appropriate” to ensure “a fair competition on a level playing field” in the face of EADS’ Airbus receiving improper aircraft subsidies. Such steps, Boeing contends, will prevent the US defense industrial base from “suffering the same fate” (i.e., thousands of lost jobs) as the US commercial aircraft industry. (See Requirements Creep above) (Boeing statement)
The F-47 fighter will be run differently than previous fighter programs and share the same mission systems architecture as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Senate Armed Services Committee. That means advances in one will fuel advances in the other.