2008 Woodie Awards
USA not showing hand with Brookley in KC-30 deal
Derek Bagley
Senior Reporter
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: News
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The competition between Northrop Grumman and its rival Boeing to be the firm that gets to develop a refueling tanker for the Air Force in Mobile has moved into the bidding stage, and a decision could be announced by the end of the year.
A team of Northrop Grumman and EADS last year named Brookley Field as its site to construct a plant that will build the tanker, which will refuel Air Force aircraft midair. The plant will bring 1,000 new jobs to Mobile.
In order for European-based Northrop/EADS to move ahead with the plans for Brookley, the companies must first outbid Boeing, the aerospace firm based in Chicago.
The Northrop/EADS team has pitted its KC-30 against Boeing's 767 in the competition. Should Boeing win the competition, it will build its 767 in Washington.
Rumors have recently sprung up that Northrop/EADS may lose the bidding war, but according to city and airport authority officials, the team is still a solid competitor.
"We're still going full force at it," Mobile County District 2 Commissioner Stephen Nodine said.
"[The KC-30 deal] is moving ahead at a pretty normal pace for what will be the nation's largest defense acquisition ever," Marc Pelham, marketing director for the Mobile Airport Authority, said.
Pelham said that the competition has grown more complex. "It's moving into the actual bidding phase where the two primary competitors, Northrop Grumman and Boeing will be drafting and submitting their bids here in the next month or so," he said.
Once the bidding starts, Pelham said, there will be a "flurry of lobbying and politicking and competing and answering questions and investigating information. Everybody will be pulling out all the stops to try and win this."
Pelham said that the two rival companies could potentially split the contract, and he said he felt that outcome would be the most likely at this point.
City and county officials see the Brookley property as a valuable asset, necessary for placing Mobile firmly in the aerospace industry.
A team of Northrop Grumman and EADS last year named Brookley Field as its site to construct a plant that will build the tanker, which will refuel Air Force aircraft midair. The plant will bring 1,000 new jobs to Mobile.
In order for European-based Northrop/EADS to move ahead with the plans for Brookley, the companies must first outbid Boeing, the aerospace firm based in Chicago.
The Northrop/EADS team has pitted its KC-30 against Boeing's 767 in the competition. Should Boeing win the competition, it will build its 767 in Washington.
Rumors have recently sprung up that Northrop/EADS may lose the bidding war, but according to city and airport authority officials, the team is still a solid competitor.
"We're still going full force at it," Mobile County District 2 Commissioner Stephen Nodine said.
"[The KC-30 deal] is moving ahead at a pretty normal pace for what will be the nation's largest defense acquisition ever," Marc Pelham, marketing director for the Mobile Airport Authority, said.
Pelham said that the competition has grown more complex. "It's moving into the actual bidding phase where the two primary competitors, Northrop Grumman and Boeing will be drafting and submitting their bids here in the next month or so," he said.
Once the bidding starts, Pelham said, there will be a "flurry of lobbying and politicking and competing and answering questions and investigating information. Everybody will be pulling out all the stops to try and win this."
Pelham said that the two rival companies could potentially split the contract, and he said he felt that outcome would be the most likely at this point.
City and county officials see the Brookley property as a valuable asset, necessary for placing Mobile firmly in the aerospace industry.
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