(MOBILE, Ala.) Aug 30 - Northrop Grumman and Boeing are gearing up for another round in the battle for the US Air Force tanker contract. Congress is scheduled to re-convene September 8th to take another look at the bidding. The deal fell apart last year after federal auditors found problems with the way the air force conducted its evaluation. As LOCAL 15 News found out, Northrop Grumman winning the contract would mean close to 1,500 more jobs on the gulf coast. The next round in the U.S. Air Force tanker contract is almost here, and Mobile County officials are ready to win. We wanna be known world-wide as 1 of 3 places in the world to build planes, says Mobile County Commission President Mike Dean. He says this time, the stakes are high. He says if Northrop wins the contract, it would bring a six hundred million dollar aircraft production plant. Not to mention 1,500 more jobs. We do need jobs...this region needs jobs. Dean says the commission plans to be more aggressive and pro-active this time around. And is asking congress to do what’s in the best interest of the air force. Just take a look and do what's fair...just give the military a fair bid process and lets get the best product, the best plane in the air as quick as possible. If Boeing wins the contract, the plane would be built in Seattle, Washington . The tanker contract was originally awarded to Northrop Grumman, but after Boeing appealed, the bidding started over. Alabama Governor Bob Riley recently said he believes that politics are slowing the process down. He says, We won it last time. if it had not been for political pressure, we would be building planes today. Just give us a fair shake, that's all we ask is give us a fair shake on knowing what we need to strategize on. Northrop Grumman and its partner EADS plan to assemble the planes at Brookley Field in Mobile . Dean says the jobs would include administration, engineering and assembly jobs.
Mobile County is gearing up for the next round of the tanker contract
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Northrop Grumman and Boeing are gearing up for another round in the battle for the US Air Force tanker contract. If Northrop Grumman wins, it could bring over 1,000 jobs to the Gulf Coast
/ Source: WPMI-TV
