Letter to Honorable Robert Gates

Letter

Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Kit Bond (R-MO), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates expressing their concern over the Pentagon's decision to extend the deadline for submitting a bid on the contract to build the next generation of aerial refueling tankers to accommodate the European company Airbus. The deadline would be extended by sixty days if Airbus decides to submit a tanker bid.

"We believe in a fair and open competition for the next generation of aerial refueling tankers, but this is no time to put American servicemembers and workers on hold to accommodate the business needs of an illegally subsidized foreign company," the Senators wrote.

On March 24th, the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced that Airbus has for years received illegal, trade-distorting subsidies that have hurt U.S. aerospace companies and undercut American workers. The ruling included a finding that the A-330, the very plane that Airbus plans to put forward in the tanker competition, has been built using illegal subsidies.

A copy of the full letter appears below.

The Honorable Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000

Dear Secretary Gates:

We are writing about the decision to extend the deadline for bids on the KC-X tanker competition by sixty days, if EADS commits to submit a tanker bid. We believe in a fair and open competition for the next generation of aerial refueling tankers, but this is no time to put American servicemembers and workers on hold to accommodate the business needs of an illegally subsidized foreign company.

As you and other senior military officials have stated, replacing the Eisenhower-era KC-135 tankers in service with the Air Force is a top acquisition priority for the Department of Defense. This acquisition process has already been prolonged by years, and it should not face further delay. The Air Force has laid out clear requirements and timelines for the KC-X competition, and the potential bidders have already had ample time to study the Final Request for Proposals and to prepare competitive bids. Moreover, compressing the bid evaluation timeline given the problematic history with this source selection process concerns us greatly.

EADS already enjoys the benefit of an illegitimate handicap over other competitors. As the World Trade Organization has found in a recent final ruling, its commercial subsidiary Airbus has received billions of dollars in illegal subsidies from European governments. Now EADS seems intent to use illegally subsidized aircraft to significantly increase its presence in the U.S. defense market. While this may represent a sound business strategy, it does not represent the best interests of the American warfighter, worker, or taxpayer.

We have every confidence that American workers have the skills and the experience to compete successfully against the Air Force's rigorous requirements for the new tanker. Our warfighters deserve new tankers delivered as expeditiously as possible, and we see no valid reason to postpone the tanker acquisition process any longer.

Accordingly, we express our deep concern about the possible extension of the tanker bid date by an additional sixty days.