AND SO IT CAME TO PASS. Will Collier’s anecdote is accurate. EADS probably should have pulled a Nixon after the first competition; swallowed hard, smiled, accepted defeat, and gone on to market their version of tanker outside the U.S. market. Today, the well is poisoned; the hard feelings developed over the length of the competition will likely keep EADS out of the U.S. market for years.

On the other hand, I suspect Boeing is having their “WTF (not ‘win the future’) moment.” Now they’re going to have to perform - on a significantly skinnied down contract -- in an environment hostile to even a penny overrun.

More here.