The US Congress voted Saturday to pass a $422 billion defense funding bill that blocked a proposed $23 billion multi-year arrangement to lease and then purchase Boeing 767 refueling aircraft for the Air Force. Both chambers approved the measure, which instead permits the Air Force to buy up to 100 Boeing tankers outright.
The leasing plan had been shadowed by ethics investigations that had already sent one federal official to prison, with others facing scrutiny. Senator John McCain of Arizona, a leading critic of the arrangement, said the new legislation returned the Air Force to "square one."
With the lease contract gone, Boeing's European rival EADS, which holds an 80 percent stake in Airbus, is preparing to compete for the business. EADS North America had lost an earlier tanker bid to Boeing in 2002 and is readying a new run at a contract.
Boeing said it would continue making the case for new tankers, citing military necessity. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had suspended the tanker replacement program months earlier pending studies of requirements, with no decision expected before the following month at the earliest.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in October 2004, in its own words.