While it's not official, there are indications that EADS NA will not file a bid protest about the airborne tanker deal with the Government Accountability Office.
Reuters broke the story in Europe and then AFP quoted a source "close to the matter" who said "apparently" a protest will not be filed. But it also quoted a spokesman for EADS NA saying no decision has been reached. The French news agency has excellent sources within EADS, the parent company. An EADS NA spokesman told me the company is still weighing its options. But the initial sense from company officials after Boeing was named winner was that EADS was leaning strongly toward filing a protest.
Given the importance of other business for EADS NA with the Pentagon, and in the interests of US- European trade ties (especially important in the defense world) , the European parent may well have decided to cut its losses and not risk antagonizing Pentagon buyers or the Obama White House. The company is proposing its AAS-72X for the Army’s armed scout helicopter mission. And it supplies the TRS-3D radar for Lockheed Martin's Littoral Combat Ship.
