Boeing Scores $35B Pentagon Contract

The Pentagon Thursday awarded Boeing Company a $35 billion contract to build airborne tankers for the U.S. Air Force, putting an end to a fierce multinational bidding war. Analysts said Boeing’s victory could cause accusations of protectionism by the Pentagon—the closest competitor was a European company that had proposed building the new aircraft around the Airbus A3300 jet, but Boeing’s plan is based on its decidedly older Boeing 767 commercial aircraft. The Defense Department will pay the company more than $3.5 billion to deliver the first 18 aircrafts by 2017.