Hawker Beech Sues to Block Embraer Air Force Contract

Stephen Pope

Tuesday, January 03, 2012 at 10:35 PM ET

Verified

Super Tucano

Key Takeaways:

Embraer secured a hotly contested contract, potentially worth nearly $1 billion, to supply Super Tucano counterinsurgency aircraft to the U.S. Air Force, marking its first deal with the USAF.
Losing bidder Hawker Beechcraft has launched a fierce legal and PR offensive, filing a lawsuit against the Air Force, claiming unfair exclusion from the competition and a lack of transparency in the bidding process.
Hawker Beechcraft alleges it was denied concrete reasons for its AT-6 aircraft's exclusion and that the Air Force failed to properly announce Embraer's contract award.
Both Embraer (partnering to build in Florida) and Hawker Beechcraft (emphasizing existing U.S. manufacturing) highlighted U.S. job creation as a key component of their respective bids.

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Embraer has won a hotly contested contract to build counterinsurgency aircraft in its first deal with the U.S. Air Force, marking a major victory for the Brazilian company and an important milestone in relations between the two countries. The contract award has also touched off a fierce PR and legal offensive by the losing bidder, Hawker Beechcraft, which has filed a lawsuit in federal court aimed at blocking the decision.

At the heart of the matter is Embraer’s successful win over Hawker Beechcraft of a contract potentially worth nearly $1 billion under which Embraer will provide the Air Force with Super Tucano light attack aircraft and support services for missions mainly in Afghanistan.