Pentagon still plans winner-take-all aerial tanker deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defence Department still plans to award a winner-takes-all contract after the next phase of competition to build a new aerial refuelling fleet, the Pentagon's top arms buyer said on Wednesday.

"We do not have the resources" to develop and maintain two separate tanker fleets," John Young, under secretary of Defence for acquisition, told a briefing after Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon would seek revised bids.

On February 29, the Air Force chose Northrop Grumman Corp and EADS to build an initial 179 tankers over losing bidder Boeing Co, which successfully fought back for a second shot at the job.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf, editing by Phil Berlowitz)