EADS/Airbus have not yet informed the Defense Department if it will bid on the KC-X tanker contract, and they better do so soon, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said Thursday. Speaking at an Aerospace Industries Association-sponsored event in the US Capitol, Lynn said that the Pentagon will need some notice “sufficiently ahead of May 10,” the deadline for tanker bid submissions, if the company expects to be accommodated in its request for an extension of the filing deadline. “I think they’re on the verge of a decision,” Lynn said. “I think we’ll know quite soon.”
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.