WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Representative Norm Dicks, a political supporter of Boeing Co, said the Pentagon's draft rules for a new aerial tanker competition were "certainly an improvement over what we had last time."
Dicks said the proposed rules included more emphasis on 40-year life cycle and ownership costs and any new construction needed to accommodate planes larger than the current fleet of KC-135 tankers. "I think this apporach is going to be less ambiguous," Dicks said. "There's a lot more look at the whole life-cycle of ownership of the airplane, so I'm pleased with that."
Dicks said the only thing that upset him was the Pentagon's decision to exclude a bitter dispute between Boeing and Europe's Airbus over alleged illegal subsidies.

(Jim Wolf in Washington; +1 202 898 8400, washington.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)

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