The Boeing Co. was awarded a giant $35 billion contract to build giant airborne refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force. The decision was announced by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks moments before an official announcement by officials at the Pentagon. The tanker will be built primarily in Everett and Wichita, Kan., and will mean 50,000 jobs.

Boeing's bid won out over a competing bid by the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, or EADS, parent company of Airbus. If EADS had won, the tanker would have been assembled in Mobile, Ala., at a long-shuttered military base. The $35 billion contract calls for producing 179 new tankers. Boeing would base the tanker on its 767 aircraft while EADS would have used the Airbus A330 built in Europe as its model.

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