US senator drops hold on Pentagon arms chief nominee

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Richard Shelby on Thursday said he was dropping his hold on the nomination of a new Pentagon chief arms buyer after Defense Secretary Robert Gates assured him at a meeting that he was committed to a fair and transparent aerial tanker competition.

If Shelby's fellow senator from Alabama, Jeff Sessions, follows suit, the Senate could act quickly to confirm Ashton Carter, a Harvard professor and former Pentagon official, as undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Shelby said in a statement that he recognized the need for Gates to have a confirmed arms chief to move the tanker competition forward, but would keep a close eye on the process to see that Gates carried out his assurances.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing Bernard Orr)