Congressman says tanker contract won’t be split

TACOMA, Wash. — Congressman Norm Dicks says a proposal to split an air tanker contract is dead. Dicks told The News Tribune of Tacoma that a key congressman, John Murtha of Pennsylvania, has agreed not to split the contract between Boeing and a European competitor. The Air Force spending is part of a bill being considered by the House Appropriations Committee. The tanker contract for 179 planes is worth $35 billion. Boeing proposes a plane based on the 767. A Northrop Grumman-EADS team would use an Airbus plane. Boeing lost a contract in 2003 in an ethics scandal. A contract awarded to Northrop-EADS last year was overturned after the Government Accountability Office concluded the Air Force unfairly penalized Boeing’s smaller plane.