Click here fir the Reuters story
Here are some key quotes:
“Defense analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group said it marked the first time in U.S. military procurement — and possibly worldwide — that a government had chosen “a foreign plane over a directly competing domestic product.”
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“The U.S. government is bringing an action against Airbus in the World Trade Organization and subsidies should have been taken into account” in this competition, Rep. Norm Dicks, a Washington Democrat, told Reuters.
McCain urged Robert Gates, before he was confirmed as defense secretary, to remove the issue from the terms of the competition, saying it could eliminate one of the bidders from the start.
“McCain wrote a very strong letter to Gates,” Dicks said. “Clearly it was on the side of Airbus.”
Dicks said the Air Force would face tough questions in Congress. “Here we are in a recession and the U.S. government hands such a big contract to the Europeans,” he said.