France's EADS Decides to Bid on US Refueling Tanker After Receiving Extra Delays; Frontiers of Freedom Reacts to Latest Development

WASHINGTON, April 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- George Landrith, President of Frontiers of Freedom released the following statement concerning European Air Defense Systems (EADS) decision to bid for the contract to build the next generation of refueling tankers for the U.S. Military:

"We welcome a fair and open competition for the next generation of aerial refueling tankers.  However, we remain concerned that European aerospace manufacturer EADS has delayed the process for largely political reasons, and that the company continues to propose a tanker aircraft that has benefited from billions of dollars in illegal launch-aid subsidies, jeopardizing the fairness of the Air Force's tanker competition.

"Allowing one side and only one side of the competition continued deadline extensions and government subsidies found by an international trade court to be illegal will surely invite protests from the other side, which will further delay the process.

"We repeat that we favor a fair and open competition, but caution that EADS' extraordinary manipulation of the tanker bidding process does a disservice to taxpayers and our troops, and may well lead to further delays in what is universally understood to be a pressing need of the United States military."

Frontiers of Freedom was founded in 1994. Frontiers of Freedom mission is to promote conservative public policy based on the principles of individual freedom, peace through strength, limited government, free enterprise, and traditional American values as found in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

SOURCE Frontiers of Freedom