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Boeing raises Iran in tanker battle with EADS

Reuters | Boeing Co. accused Europe’s EADS of having sought to do business with Iran, sharpening their campaign for a potential $50 billion U.S. Air Force refueling plane contract.

EADS North America’s parent company “continues to do business with countries that are not friendly to the United States,” Timothy Keating, Boeing’s vice president of government operations, told a small group of reporters.

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Woodward Governor to open facility in Poland

From Polish Market | Woodward Governor Co. plans to open a new facility near Krakow, Poland where it has operated a plant since 2005.

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Pentagon tanker award moved to No. 12

Associated Press | The Pentagon is delaying the award of a huge
contract for its new tanker jet by almost three months, pushing it past
the November midterm elections. The contract is worth at least $35
billion to build 179 refueling jets. Bids are expected from Boeing Co.
and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.

The Pentagon’s choice
between Boeing, based in Chicago, and France-based EADS will be highly
charged. Each company has allies in Congress who are eyeing jobs
promised for their districts.

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EADS back with $35B bid to build Air Force tanker

Associated Press | A European defense contractor said Tuesday that will make its own bid
for the U.S. Air Force’s long-delayed $35 billion contract to build a
fleet of new refueling jets after its U.S. partner dropped out.

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, also known as EADS,
opens a new chapter in the bitterly disputed and politically sensitive
Pentagon effort to replace its fleet of KC-135 refueling tankers that
date back to the 1950s.

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Boeing rival EADS might not find partner for bid

McClatchy/Tribune News | Boeing Co.’s European rival, European Aeronautic Defence & Space
Co., is finding it difficult to recruit a U.S. partner to bid on a $35
billion aerial tanker contract.

Reuters News Service reported Friday that L-3 Communications Holdings
Inc. has backed away from the Pentagon’s tanker deal.

The company was viewed as the most likely ally for EADS.

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BAE unseats Boeing as tops in arm sales

Associated Press | Britain’s BAE Systems has become the first non-U.S. company to top global arms sales, a Swedish defense think tank said Monday.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said the company
sold $32.4 billion of weapons in 2008, placing it ahead of U.S.
companies Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. — the previous No. 1.

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Navistar raises outlook for 2010

Dow Jones Newswires | Navistar International Corp. raised its
2010 profit outlook, saying it has seen increased military orders. The
commercial truck maker boosted its full-year profit outlook to $2.75 to
$3.25 per share from the view it gave in March of $1.75 to $2.25 a
share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently expected $2.46
a share.

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Boeing studying options for tanker bid

Associated Press | Boeing says it is reviewing its options for bidding on a $35 billion contract to make Air Force tanker planes. The statement comes a day after the Pentagon said it might extend the bidding deadline to give European competitor EADS a chance to re-enter the process.

EADS will rejoin tanker bid if it’s fair, Sarkozy says

CB-SARKOZY.jpg
U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy hold a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)

Dow Jones Newswires | French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday that European aerospace group European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. EADS would rejoin the competition for the $40 billion U.S. Air Force aerial-refueling tanker contract if the process was fair.

Sarkozy made the comment during a joint press conference with President Barack Obama. There has been tension across the Atlantic about the tanker contract since the aerospace group’s U.S. partner, Northrop Grumman Corp., withdrew from the bidding, leaving Boeing Co. as the likely winner.

AAR Corp. gets Army shelter order

Associated Press | AAR Corp. said Monday it has received an order from the U.S. Army worth $24 million to provide portable shelters. The company said it has already delivered more than 1,500 shelters as part of a 10-year contract. Its shares added 10 cents to $25.10 in morning trading.

Navistar says it will retrofit 1,222 MRAP vehicles

From Transport Topics Online | Warrenville-based Navistar Corp. said its military division will retrofit and upgrade 1,222 International MaxxPro Dash blast-protected vehicles as part of a $178 million contract. The vehicles are for the U.S. Marine Corps, and the retrofits are scheduled to begin by the end of April.

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Russian firms may bid on refueling tanker

From the Washington Post | In a new twist in the Air Force refueling tanker saga, a holding company for several Russian aerospace firms is expected to announce Monday a joint venture with an American defense contractor, described as not being on of the four largest, to bid on the $35 billion contract.

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Work stopped on Boeing ‘virtual’ border fence

Associated Press | Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that she will freeze funds for expanding the virtual fence that originally was supposed to monitor most of the 2,000-mile southern U.S. border by 2011 but now covers only a portion of Arizona’s boundary with Mexico.

The virtual fence is a network of cameras, ground sensors and radars designed to let a small number of dispatchers watch the border on a computer monitor, zoom in with cameras to see people crossing, and decide whether to send Border Patrol agents to the scene.

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