Pentagon to give Senate panel dual-tanker data

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has promised to provide information to Congress about the cost of buying new aerial refueling tankers from both Boeing Co (BA.N) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N), a spokesman for the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee said on Thursday.

Gates and other top Pentagon officials oppose any move by Congress to accelerate purchases of aerial refueling tankers by splitting the contract, saying two models would double development costs and boost maintenance and training expenses.

Appropriations panel chairman Daniel Inouye had planned to insert language requiring the cost data into the fiscal 2009 war spending bill, but dropped the plan after discussing the issue with Gates, the spokesman said.

"The secretary (Gates) told him he would conduct the required analysis and it could be done more expeditiously if the request were made to start today in lieu of waiting for the bill to pass," said Rob Blumenthal, an Inouye spokesman.

Inouye was seeking data on development, procurement and operation cost of splitting the Air Force's purchase of refueling tankers between Boeing and Northrop instead of choosing a single supplier.

"... he firmly believes it is the responsibility of the Committee leaders to know what the estimated costs would be of these competing proposals," Inouye's spokesman said.

Once approved by the Senate, negotiators from both houses of Congress would work out a compromise version of the war spending bill. The House version does not include a requirement on the tanker costs.

Representative John Murtha, who heads the defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, has promoted dual procurement as a way to avert new protests and delays in the Air Force's drive to replace its nearly 50-year old KC-135 tankers.