Boeing Protests Air Force Contract on Tankers (1/2)

Must a country buy from its own defense suppliers? This is one of the questions in Washington in a dispute over a deal worth at least thirty-five billion dollars. The contract will supply the Air Force with one hundred seventy-nine tankers.The Air Force says it has a serious need for new planes to refuel aircraft in mid-flight. Boeing has a long history of supplying tankers to the Air Force.

But on February twenty-ninth, the Air Force awarded the contract to another American company, Northrop Grumman, teamed with EADS. EADS is the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, the parent of Airbus.

This week, Boeing protested the decision. The Government Accountability Office will study the appeal and expects to have a report by June nineteenth. Boeing says it found problems in the process used to reach the decision. The Air Force has called the process fair and open.

But the decision not to give the contract to the Chicago-based company has angered lawmakers in Congress from states with Boeing factories. These include Washington state and Kansas.

参考译文：

一个国家一定要向自己的国防供应商购买用品吗？这是华盛顿的关于一项至少350亿美元的交易的争论中所面临的问题之一。合同上协定将要供应空军179架加油机。而空军认为他们非常需要新的飞机来给飞在半途的飞行器加油。波音公司向空军提供加油机已经有很长的历史了。

但在2月29号，空军和另一家美国公司Northrop Grumman签订合同。这家公司和EADS合作。后者是空中巴士的起源——欧洲航空防备和空间公司。

这周波音公司对这项决定提出了异议。美国政府问责局将会调查这份上诉并且希望在6月19号前得到结果。波音公司表示他在过去做出决定的过程中发现了问题。而空军称这个过程公平，公开。

但这项决定没有给这家总部设在芝加哥的公司合同的行为惹怒了一些州的国会的立法者。其中包括华盛顿州和堪萨斯州。

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