Northrop Grumman and Boeing officials trekked throughout the country to meet with lawmakers in their districts during the August recess, as part of a heated lobbying campaign to attract support in a cutthroat competition for the Air Force’s new mid-air refueling tankers.
The Air Force will pick a winner next year based on the best-suited aircraft for its tanking missions. But outside the Pentagon, Northrop Grumman and Boeing have entered a horse race to show the deep economic impact that their respective wins would have across the country.
“The reason why jobs come up in our messaging and our releases is only to make sure that people understand what is at stake in this competition,” said William Barksdale, Boeing’s tanker communications manager.
Understanding that jobs and economic benefits are music to lawmakers’ ears, the two companies’ strategy has created camps, most visibly with the Washington state delegation in Boeing’s camp and the Alabama and Mississippi delegations in Northrop’s.
But it does not stop there. Northrop Grumman, which has teamed up with EADS North America to offer the Airbus 330 (or the KC-30), has been blasting announcements during the recess that tout job creation and economic benefits in Florida, Texas and Illinois. EADS North America is a subsidiary of the European Aeronautics Defence and Space conglomerate, which also owns Airbus.
In Illinois, Northrop Grumman claims it will create and sustain more than 4,300 jobs, and together with its suppliers’ base will generate $2 billion annually in economic growth. Chicago is also home to Boeing’s corporate headquarters, while Northrop Grumman’s defensive systems division is based in Rolling Meadows, Ill.
In its campaign to win support for its 767 refueling tanker offering, Boeing has attacked the Northrop Grumman-EADS team for offering a European aircraft and creating jobs in Europe if it wins the Air Force’s multibillion-dollar competition.
Northrop Grumman, which has taken the lead in the public relations campaign, has been fighting to dispel that notion and emphasizing the impact of an award to the United States. To that end, Northrop Grumman and EADS plan to assemble the KC-30 in Mobile, Ala., which Alabama Sens. Jeff Sessions (R) and Richard Shelby (R), as well as Gov. Bob Riley (R), want to make a magnet for aerospace business.
If Northrop wins the $40 billion tanker contract, it plans to manage the program from Melbourne, Fla.
Taking advantage of the month-long recess, Northrop Grumman officials have visited state and federal offices in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois and Mississippi.
“We have hit with home states; we have gone into district offices. We made sure that they do not miss anything while in recess,” said Randy Belote, Northrop’s vice president of communications.
Northrop Grumman is also planning a new fall advertising drive that will hit the airwaves, Metro trains and key Metro stations such as the ones by Capitol Hill.
Boeing, which like Northrop Grumman already has undertaken a concerted advertising campaign, was more tightlipped about its fall plans. Even though Boeing refused to name the states where its officials have visited, several defense sources have pointed out that Boeing has also been traveling the country.
In addition, Boeing has orchestrated several rallies and invited lawmakers to attend events in Everett, Wash., Wichita, Kan., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Rockwell Collins is one of Boeing’s suppliers.
If it wins the contract, Boeing claims, it would create 44,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country. Boeing has eliminated about 80,000 jobs since 1997, including 27,000 in Washington state since 2001.
By comparison, Boeing said it would create 30,000 jobs to build 189 aircraft for another of its flagship programs, the C-17 cargo plane.
Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman claims that its win would create 25,000 jobs at 230 U.S companies.
“The 25,000 direct and indirect jobs number is based upon an industry standard formula that the Department of Commerce puts out to predict the number of aerospace jobs,” explained Northrop’s Belote. The Department of Commerce formula takes into consideration the percentage of U.S. content, the approximate price of an aircraft and the number of planes that would be built per year.
Boeing’s Barksdale said that his company also used the Commerce formula to help derive its numbers, but he refused to provide any details except to state that his company’s numbers are conservative.
Boeing said the 767 will have 85 percent U.S. content, with the rest coming from Japan, Russia and Italy. Northrop Grumman recently announced that its airplane will have 60 percent U.S. content. The United States already is the largest supplier for the A330.
Whatever decision the Air Force makes, it is expected to stir up controversy on Capitol Hill. The service’s acquisition practices have been under scrutiny on the Hill since a previous tanker lease deal landed an Air Force official and Boeing executive in jail.
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