McCain: Hill won't threaten tanker deal

Senate Armed Services ranking member John McCain, R-Ariz., said Tuesday he will closely monitor what appears will be a sole-source contract award to Boeing Co. to build 179 aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force, but he does not expect Congress to intervene with legislation requiring some degree of competition for the job.

Speaking one day after Northrop Grumman Corp. bowed out of the tanker competition, McCain said he has not found any flaws in the Air Force's acquisition process.

"The process, as far as I can tell, and we've been monitoring it very closely, has been legitimate," McCain said. "We continue to ask questions, we continue to monitor; we continue to be very closely involved in the process. But we can't force anybody to bid. It's just not our role."

In its withdrawal announcement, Northrop cited concerns that the Air Force's request for proposals favored the smaller Boeing 767 airframe over their Airbus A330 model.

In the rush to acquire new planes in 2003, the Air Force tried to lease Boeing KC-767s before reviewing other options. The $23.5 billion deal collapsed due to pressure from congressional critics, led by McCain, who exposed Air Force corruption. That resulted in jail terms for two senior Boeing officials and forced the Pentagon to consider alternatives to the Boeing aircraft and open future tanker contracts to competition.

The collapse of the lease deal led to a competition to sell planes to the Air Force, which resulted in a contract award in 2008 to a team led by Northrop Grumman and EADS, the European consortium that owns Airbus. But Boeing successfully protested the contract to GAO and the Pentagon canceled it.

McCain said he was disappointed that Northrop, again partnered with EADS, opted out of the competition, but said he respected the decision.

He added he is concerned about a lack of competition on the tanker program and across the defense industry as a whole. And he left the door open to hearings on the tanker, if the Armed Services Committee determines it is necessary.

"We'll keep a close eye on the whole process, a very close eye on it," he said.