EADS chief hails "exceptional success" in tanker bid

PARIS (Reuters) - The head of European aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA) hailed as an "exceptional success" a multi billion euro contract to supply aerial refuelling tankers to the United States Air Force on Friday.

The financial impact will be positive but will be felt over time and EADS and its U.S. partner Northrop Grumman won the deal on the quality of their plane and not price, he told Reuters in his first comments on the award.

"This is a very, very good piece of news for EADS," he said.

"I think it is an exceptional success for us and demonstrates confidence in our policy of being present on the American market and showing what we can provide in the way of quality," he said.

He was speaking in a telephone interview immediately after the U.S. Air Force said it had awarded the contract for up to 179 aerial tankers to Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and Airbus parent EADS (EAD.PA), rejecting a rival bid by Boeing Co (BA.N).

Defense analysts estimate the contract is worth $30 billion to $40 billion over the next 10 to 15 years.

"We convinced them that our product was very good and our teams deserve to be very proud," Gallois said.

Asked whether the Northrop-led team had offered a lowball price to beat Boeing, he said, "no we didn't smash the price".

He said political leaders in Alabama, where Northrop and EADS intend to build the tankers based on the Airbus A330 passenger jet, had offered "formidable support".

He also said EADS had successfully tested the boom system for the future tanker plane by refuelling a Portuguese aircraft earlier on Friday.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher)