Last week, the US Department of Defense (DoD) indicated it would welcome a proposal from EADS North America as prime contractor for the KC-X tanker competition, a significant development.
EADS released a statement saying that the company "is assessing this new situation to determine if the company can feasibly submit a responsive proposal to the Department's request for proposal (RFP)."
"And while this development is a positive sign that the DoD seeks competition, it does not address EADS' underlying concerns that the RFP clearly favours a smaller, less capable aircraft, and that the additional combat capability offered by our system may not be fully valued.
"An important prerequisite for our consideration of entry into this competition will be a significant extension to the period within which to prepare and submit a proposal.
"EADS welcomes the DoD's recent statement which indicated a willingness to extend the timeframe.
"Though this is essential, it is only one factor in making a decision for EADS to compete.
"In the end, the company will only submit a proposal if there is a fair chance to win, after evaluating all relevant factors."
Defense Department officials are considering EADS' request for 90 days beyond the May 10 deadline to prepare its bid, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
The officials are considering whether they will allow a "reasonable extension", Whitman said, without specifying how long that might be.
Extensions aren't unusual for requests for proposals, he said, and are considered on a case-by-case basis.
So the company hasn't packed up and gone home yet, but is still considering the option.
Another contender?
Russian state-owned aerospace group United Aircraft Corporation plans to bid for the $US35-billion US Air Force tanker contract, teaming up with a US partner, a lawyer representing UAC said last week.
"They're going to announce a joint venture with an American company to bid on the tanker program," attorney John Kirkland told AFP.
Kirkland did not identify the US firm except to say its shares were publicly traded.
The Department of Defense could not immediately confirm the apparent upcoming Russian bid.
"We've always been clear that this is a fair and open competition and we welcome all qualified bidders," Geoff Morell, a Pentagon spokesman, said.
According to a source familiar with the situation, UAC will propose a tanker version of its Ilyushin IL-96.
The plane, which would be called the IL-98, is roughly the same size as the 767-based tanker proposed by Boeing but with operating costs in line with the Boeing KC-135 tankers currently used by the air force.
The tanker would be built in Russia and assembled in the US southeastern region, the source said.