http://aviationweek.typepad.com/ares...friendly_.html


As the Europeans embark on this new relationship with the United States over refueling tankers, hopefully they will keep their "je ne sais quoi." The teaming arrangement between Northrop Grumman and EADS North America on their proposal took months to develop. And right up until it was announced Feb. 8 at the annual Air Force Assn. meeting in Orlando that the two companies would indeed jointly propose an Airbus A330-based tanker, Northrop was on-again, off-again.

Taking on Boeing is a no-brainer for EADS North America, which broke into the U.S. market last year with the Army's Light Utility Helicopter. But for tankers, Northrop was wary. Would the Airbus tanker get a fair shake in Washington? As the trans-Atlantic team made the announcement at AFA, the swag began streaming into the show -- and just in case, two exhibits were shipped there: one with a tanker and one without.

If Northrop and EADS win the tanker, clearly the eleventh-hour decision was worth it. If only it were the same for their swag. It is, after all, a frog. Yes ... a small, plush, green, T-shirt-wearing amphibian –- the very same creature as the cultural insult hurled at Frenchmen for decades (and allegedly based on the story of French eating frog legs in the field during World War II, though it later morphed into a spiteful slur). To be sure, the spokes-marine specimen is no beret-invoking Frenchman. It sports Old Glory on one sleeve -– they are going to assemble their Airbus tankers in Alabama if they win -- while the team’s logo on the back is "NKAWTG." (As in "No one kicks ass without tanker gas.")

But wait, there's more. The Northrop-EADS team denies it is a frog. That just wouldn't be collegial to their teammates! Instead, Northrop Grumman officials say, it's a "tanker toad" -- as in the warty sort, not to be confused with their smooth-skinned cousins. Supposedly the toad refers to a decades-old and obscure self-given nickname of tanker operators. (At least we here at AvWeek don't recall it.) They say it stems from the boom operator's position inside the KC-135, with the operator laying on his or her stomach to guide the boom. Besides, "tanker frog" just doesn't have the same ring to it as "tanker toad," we think.

Boeing swag, of course, is not to be left behind here though still lacking the same colorful history. Boeing's tanker tiger wears a muscle shirt –- a forgetful style point thanks to the good ol' U.S. of A. -- and says, “Once a tiger, always a tiger.” Both products are, naturally, brought in from China -- you know, that to-be adversary driving much of U.S. defense procurement strategy, including the need for global reach provided only by tankers.

It bears noting that this veritable menagerie may be only the first salvo of swag in the tanker duel. After all, no proper defense program is without its variants. In fact, we hear there are other versions of the "tanker toad" and “tanker tiger” out there. So please, send us photos of your Bigfoot and Loch Ness sitings and a quick write up on their origins. We'll protect our sources!