Mobile Celebrated Economic Development With 2008 Downtown Parade
Mobile held a downtown parade celebrating economic development, with a KC-45 tanker medallion bead and Northrop Grumman and EADS representatives marching.
MOBILE, Ala. — Mobile held a downtown parade in June 2008 to celebrate the region’s recent economic development wins, including the Air Force tanker contract that Northrop Grumman and EADS planned to assemble at Brookley Field.
Parade throws included a special bead with a Northrop Grumman KC-45 tanker medallion. Representatives from Northrop Grumman and EADS marched in the parade.
Residents told a local television station they hoped the big projects, including the steel mill and the tanker work, would help the city grow.
The parade took a different route than usual because a Carrie Underwood concert was happening the same evening at the Mobile Civic Center. The station reported the change was made to avoid major traffic and parking problems near the arena.
The projects behind the parade
On Feb. 29, 2008, the Air Force picked the Northrop Grumman-EADS team to build its next aerial refueling tanker, a contract for 179 aircraft worth about $35 billion. Final assembly was planned for Mobile, and the companies had scheduled a June 28 groundbreaking at Brookley.
The celebration took place under a cloud. On June 18, 2008, the Government Accountability Office upheld Boeing’s protest of the award and recommended that the Air Force reopen the competition.
The steel mill residents mentioned was ThyssenKrupp’s plant near Calvert in north Mobile County. It was announced in May 2007 and was under construction at the time of the parade.
Later developments: The Pentagon canceled the 2008 tanker competition that September. When the contract was rebid, Boeing won it in February 2011. The ThyssenKrupp steel plant was completed and began operating in 2010.
