AIR SHOW: EADS, Northrop Grumman CEOs Reaffirm Commitment For US Tanker
Tuesday July 15th, 2008 / 15h45
Edited Press Release FARNBOROUGH, England -(Dow Jones)- The Chief Executive Officers of Northrop Grumman (NOC) and EADS (5730.FR) - Ronald Sugar and Louis Gallois - have reaffirmed their joint commitment to provide the United States Air Force with the most capable aerial refueling tanker in the world. The CEOs expressed their continued confidence in and support of the Northrop Grumman KC-45 tanker, emphasizing it is the only system that is ready now to recapitalize the aging U.S tanker fleet. Based on the commercially successful A330 aircraft, the KC-45 benefits from the extensive flight testing and certification process already completed for the Australian MRTT program. Along with the U.S. Air Force, in the last five competitions, key allies also have selected the tanker aircraft on which the KC-45 is based including the air forces of Australia, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The CEOs declared, "We applaud the decision of the Secretary of Defense to complete the tanker recompetition in an expeditious timeframe, one properly focused on addressing the procedural flaws identified by the Government Accountability Office. We look forward to meeting with DoD and Air Force officials and are prepared to respond quickly to the amended Request For Proposal. As a team, we are ready to get back to work and begin delivering the world's most capable tankers to the U.S. Air Force." Company Web site: www.eads.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=9kELB4HUXOiD3Tf5%2BJpKQA%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
