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The Pentagon today chose Northrop Grumman and the makers of Airbus airliners to build a new fleet of refueling tankers for the Air Force, a $40 billion deal that is one of the Defense Department's most important, expensive and controversial since a 2004 scandal that tarnished the service and Boeing Co., which had also sought the tanker contract.

Under the new deal, the team of Northrop and European Aeronautic Defence and Space, Airbus's parent company, initially will make 179 tankers for the Air Force. The deal to replace the roughly 500 tankers in the Air Force's fleet ultimately could be worth as much as $100 billion over the next several decades, analysts said.

For its Commercial Derivative Air Refuelling Aircraft program, the U.S. Air Force decided to lease around 100 KC-767 tankers from Boeing after it won the selection process.

Despite many other nations engaging in leased aircraft, there was some criticism. U.S. Senator John McCain questioned whether it is really cost-effective for the USAF to lease aircraft at all, particularly as the aircraft would probably not have many, if any, buyers when their military service was concluded. This was derided as an uninformed criticism, as there were many U.S. allies in need of tanker aircraft. The Congressional Budget Office has also criticized the draft leasing agreement as fiscally irresponsible. In November 2003, a compromise was struck where the Air Force would purchase 80 KC-767 aircraft and lease 20 more.

In December 2003, the Pentagon announced the project was to be frozen while an investigation of allegations of corruption by one if its former procurement staffers, Darleen Druyun (who had moved to Boeing in January) was begun. Druyun pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine months in jail for "negotiating a job with Boeing at the same time she was involved in contracts with the company". Additional fallout included the resignation of Boeing CEO Philip M. Condit and the termination of CFO Michael M. Sears.

After awarding a $20 billion contract to Boeing to lease tankers, the Air Force's procurement chief at the time, Darleen Druyun, admitted she had favored Boeing while negotiating for a job with the company. Druyun and Boeing's chief financial officer went to prison, and Boeing agreed with the Justice Department to pay $615 million -- the biggest penalty paid by a defense contractor -- to settle allegations of misconduct on the tanker deal and others.