If you’re tired of partisan politics, check out the fight over which company gets the $35 billion Air Force refueling tanker contract.

It’s a bidding war for U.S. tax dollars being waged in the halls of power of Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Moscow and Berlin. And it has little to do with Republicans and Democrats, but more to do with regional economic interests.

Kansas has a large stake in the outcome.

The fight is over which company gets to build the next generation of aircraft that are used to refuel U.S. fighters, bombers and cargo planes in mid-air.

After years of political intrigue, Boeing recently seemed to secure the inside track. That would be good for Kansas, which has a big Boeing presence.

The contract would have an estimated $388 million annual economic impact, providing 7,500 jobs over the life of the project, according to figures released by U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback’s office.

But then last month, President Barack Obama, in a joint appearance with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, announced that the Department of Defense would extend the deadline to consider bids.

The delay was prompted by an indication that the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which is the parent company of Airbus, was interested in competing.

“It is not uncommon to grant reasonable extensions in competitions of this sort, and we consider 60 days to be reasonable in this case,” said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

He dismissed the idea that international or local politics could have played a part in influencing the process.

“Nothing could be further from the truth. We have been and continue to make decisions on this critical program based solely on the law of the land and the needs of our warfighters. To that end, as the deputy secretary said last month, we will continue to play this straight down the middle,” he said.

Boeing vs. the world

Brownback, R-Kan., wasn’t happy about the deadline extension.

“It’s wrong to slow down this critical procurement process and it’s wrong to delay for a foreign company that receives illegal subsidies,” Brownback said.

“Our entire military relies on refueling tankers which were built in the 1950s. It makes no sense to extend the deadline to allow a foreign consortium led by European governments to compete for an American refueling tanker,” he said.

Brownback’s comment about illegal subsidies refers to a recent World Trade Organization ruling that found European Union governments illegally subsidized Airbus.

Brownback has an ally in this fight with U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington state, also Boeing territory.

Brownback and the pro-Boeing group are at war with Alabama officials who have been pushing for an earlier partnership of EADS and the Northrop Grumman Corp., which had planned to assemble the planes in Alabama.

When the Department of Defense extended the deadline, there was praise in Alabama.

“A sole-sourced contract would have served only Boeing’s interests,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. “The presence of a competitor better serves the interest of our warfighters and American taxpayers. It is my hope that EADS will be able to offer a competitive bid, despite the fact that the RFP (request for proposal) has been skewed toward Boeing from the beginning,” he said.

Earlier controversy

Awarding the contract has been mired in controversy for years.

In 2004, Boeing won, but that fell apart amid a scandal that resulted in prison terms for a Boeing executive and a former high-ranking Air Force official. In 2008, Northrop Grumman won the contract, but that decision was overturned when the General Accountability Office said the Air Force mishandled the process.

Now the deadline for the bids is July 9.

Wichita State University professor John Wong, who is interim director of the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs, said the competition for the refueling tanker project is intense because of the high value of manufacturing jobs. The jobs are coveted because they bring in money from outside the state instead of simply recirculating dollars within the state.

The Wichita area has lost approximately 15,000 aviation jobs, and getting the job to build the tankers “would be a step in the right direction,” Wong said. “It would certainly make a difference.”