Reply #7: The EADS spinoffs were much greater

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

Since they were ultimately going to continue building the Airbus A330 in the US - while Boeing is just going to close the line and fire everybody when they finish the tanker program. There will be no further export orders for this turkey, their nonperformance on the Japanese and Italian tanker programs complete discredited the platform. And like the US they only bought Boeing because Japan and Italy are major stakeholders in the 767 program.

Airbus can't keep up with demand for the A330 because Boeing is incapable of delivering the 787, the spin-offs of that factory would have been enormous and EADS could have become the economic engine of the region - an area starved for high-value added manufacturing.

And booms and drogues don't fall off, fighters break them off.