NG claims tanker deal will create new jobs

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LOS ANGELES, March 12 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman said Monday its U.S. Air Force tanker contract would create 48,000 new U.S. jobs.

Northrop Grumman said its supplier base to build 179 KC-45A air tankers adapted from the A-300 Airbus with the European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company "includes 230 companies in 49 (U.S.) states."

Northrop Grumman said the KC-45A tanker project, which is initially worth $35 billion, "will support more than 25,000 direct and indirect jobs in the United States -- a conservative estimate based upon the U.S. Department of Commerce aerospace industry jobs projection formula."

"Using more recent data from our suppliers and applying the Labor Department's formula for projecting aerospace jobs at the state and regional level, the KC-45A will employ approximately 48,000 direct and indirect jobs nationwide," Northrop Grumman said.

"Assembly and militarization of the Northrop Grumman KC-45A tanker ll take place in Mobile, Ala., resulting in the creation of 1,500 jobs in the United States," the company said.

"Job creation was not a part of the evaluation criteria, in accordance with federal law. (However) the Northrop Grumman KC-45A tanker program does not transfer any jobs from the United States to France or any other foreign country," the company said.