EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., accused the Pentagon Tuesday of favoring Boeing in the competition for a $35 billion contract to replace the U.S. Air Force's aging tanker planes.

EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said the Pentagon has revealed to Boeing the price that Northrop Grumman and EADS had offered in their previous bid to replace the refueling plane. "Of course, it's convenient for Boeing to have the price of our tanker," he said, adding that the competing aircraft are "globally the same."

His comments echoed a charge last month by EADS partner Northrop Grumman that the Pentagon gave Boeing key pricing information from the previous tanker competition while denying Northrop Grumman access to comparable pricing data.

Asked to respond, the U.S. Air Force cited a statement by Ashton Carter, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition in technology, rejecting the charge that it had favored Boeing.

The Defense Department "has examined this claim and found both that this disclosure was in accordance with regulation and, more importantly, that it created no competitive disadvantage because the data in question are inaccurate, outdated and not germane to this source-selection strategy," Carter said.

An air force spokeswoman would not say why both sides in the competition had not been provided comparable information.

Gallois said EADS was concerned because Boeing has "full information on our cost breakdown, and we don't have the same information on our side."

"It's because we were the winners of the first competition and so they have access to our file. And we have been disappointed not to gain the same access to their file," he said.

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