Alabama senators call for quick action on tankers

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The two Republican senators from Alabama urged Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday to quickly move forward with a plan to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of U.S. aerial refueling tankers.

A team of Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) and Europe's EADS NV (EAD.PA) beat Boeing Co (BA.N) for the projected $35 billion first phase of the project in February.

But Gates canceled the competition in September after a Boeing protest was upheld by a congressional umpire, saying the new administration should decide the matter. Gates has agreed to stay on under President-elect Barack Obama, which means the issue will be his to decide after all.

But Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and chairman of a House of Representatives subcommittee with responsibility for defense spending, said on Wednesday it would take at least two more years before replacement tankers were procured.

Sen. Richard Shelby and Sen. Jeff Sessions, who represent the state where Northrop and EADS had planned to build their tankers, told Gates in a letter that a continued delay in the program would raise "very serious safety concerns" given the fact the current fleet of KC-135s were now approaching 50 years old.

They stressed that even the Government Accountability Office, which upheld Boeing's protest, had said a full re-competition was not warranted and urged Gates to focus on just the eight issues of concern raised by the GAO.

"We are a nation at war, sending our pilots into battle on planes that are largely older than they are," Shelby said in a statement. "I encourage the Department of Defense to move past politics and acquire the best plane for our armed forces as quickly as possible."

Shelby and Sessions told Gates they hoped to discuss the issue with him at his earliest convenience in January.

Northrop spokesman Randy Belote said his company remained convinced the Air Force could address the issues raised by the GAO in a revised request for proposals and still make a contract award in the tanker competition by the end of 2009.

Belote said his company remained under a stop-work order, but was still in discussions with the Air Force about the termination of Northrop's tanker contract.

"We're still waiting for instructions," Belote said.

The company and Pentagon have been in talks about the scope of termination fees the government owes Northrop for canceling the program. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Andre Grenon)