The boss of Airbus on Friday moved to tamp down a US controversy sparked when the Pentagon awarded a refuelling tanker mega-contract to the European aviation giant, citing the growing globalisation of the aerospace sector.
In a telephone interview with AFP, Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders did not rule out the planned plant in Mobile, Alabama one day manufacturing equipment other than the tankers committed to the air force and A330 cargo jets. But Enders rejected criticism from some US lawmakers that awarding the 35-billion-dollar contract to the cross-Atlantic consortium of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) -of which Airbus is a subsidiary - and Northrop Grumman instead of US manufacturer Boeing Company would mean the loss of US jobs.
"That is ridiculous," he said, indicating that EADS and Northrop Grumann "will invest roughly 600 million dollars all in all into these facilities" in the proposed plant site in Mobile, where Enders was celebrating the deal with colleagues.
To widespread surprise, the air force announced late last month it had picked a team led by Northrop Grumman and EADS, despite rival Boeing having been heavily favoured to win the bidding to provide 179 new KC-45A aerial refuelling tankers, an initial phase in replacing the air force's ageing fleet of Boeing tankers.
The announcement led to testy comments at a Congressional panel Wednesday, with Norman Dicks, a representative of Washington state where Boeing's assembly operations are located, bemoaning how the United States gifted a "crown jewel of American technology" to Europeans.
With its defeat, Boeing's arch-rival in commercial aircraft Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, will now assemble A330 cargo jets in Alabama. Separately, Northrop Grumman will convert them into tankers using sensitive military technology that will not be shared. "The value added on the whole tankers program will be roughly 60 percent in the United States, including the engines," he said, adding that "roughly 1,300 jobs" would be created locally.
"The indirect effects for suppliers are enormous." Airbus is already a contributor to the US economy and has embraced globalisation, Enders said. "On the A380 (commercial airliner) we have American engines, we have more than 50 percent of the value added in the US," he said. Protectionism is irrelevant in the massive and competitive aerospace sector, he added.
"Aerospace is increasingly a global industry," he said. "It's not like we are national and we produce everything in Europe and they produce everything in the US. The reality is Boeing and Airbus are increasingly outsourcing important segments around the world in order to stay competitive and that will go further."
Enders also criticised protectionism in Europe, where news of construction of a new assembly plant in the United States has worried trade unions in France and elsewhere. "If people in Europe had their wish come true, they would like to assemble the KC-45 in Europe," he said, but "it is a US contract, it is US taxpayer's money, and the value added has to be in the US."
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