The U.S. Air Force has acknowledged that it made a significant mathematical error while evaluating the cost effectiveness of the two competing aircraft in the multibillion-dollar aerial refueling tanker competition, an admission that carried immediate implications for Mobile’s bid to land a major new aircraft assembly operation at Brookley Field.
The disclosure was first reported by Reuters and later confirmed by CNBC. According to that reporting, the Air Force’s error in calculating the relative costs of the Boeing tanker proposal versus the Northrop Grumman and EADS proposal had worked in Boeing’s favor, understating the comparative cost of Boeing’s aircraft relative to the winning Northrop Grumman/EADS design during the evaluation process.
Northrop Grumman, which together with European aerospace partner EADS had already been awarded the contract in the Air Force’s original decision, moved quickly to insist that the calculation error did not change the underlying strength of its bid. According to CNBC, the company maintained that its proposal remained the best value for the Air Force regardless of the math mistake, and that its win was not built on any improper advantage stemming from the error.
The stakes of the dispute run directly through Mobile. Under the terms of the original award, Northrop Grumman and EADS planned to build a final assembly line for the new KC-45 tanker aircraft at Mobile’s Brookley Field complex, a project local officials and business leaders had promoted as a potential anchor for thousands of aerospace jobs and a broader manufacturing renaissance along the Gulf Coast. Boeing, which builds its competing tanker in Washington state, formally protested the Air Force’s original decision to the Government Accountability Office, arguing the competition had been unfairly tilted toward the larger Northrop Grumman/EADS aircraft.
The admission of a math error does not by itself determine the outcome of Boeing’s protest, but it adds a new wrinkle to a review that had already drawn intense political and industry attention. The Air Force’s tanker replacement program, aimed at replacing the service’s aging fleet of Eisenhower-era refueling aircraft, has been valued at up to $40 billion over its full life, making it one of the largest defense contracts in decades and a prize that both Boeing’s home state of Washington and Alabama’s congressional delegation have fought hard to see land in their respective states.
For Mobile, the tanker contract has become one of the most closely watched economic development stories in years, with the promise of a large aircraft assembly workforce arriving on the heels of other major industrial wins along the Gulf Coast. Any disruption to the award, whether through a successful Boeing protest or a re-opened competition, would directly affect those jobs and the broader momentum local officials have been building around the region’s aerospace and manufacturing prospects.