Boeing to decide within two weeks whether to protest contract award

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co (NYSE: BA) plans to "rigorously deliberate" whether to protest a U.S. Air Force bomber contract awarded to rival Northrop Grumman Corp (NYSE: NOC), with a decision likely within two weeks, the head of the company's defense division said.

The Air Force on Tuesday selected Northrop, maker of the stealthy B-2 bomber, to develop and build a next-generation bomber, a deal analysts value at up to $80 billion if the U.S. Air Force buys all 100 stealth bombers now planned.

Chris Chadwick, president and chief executive of Boeing Defense, Sppace & Security, told staff in a memo that the company is awaiting further discussions with the Air Force to understand its reasoning for the decision before deciding on a protest.

"The Long Range Strike-Bomber program is of vital importance to our customer and to this nation, so we will rigorously deliberate whether to protest this award," Chadwick said in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Boeing had teamed with Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE: LMT) to bid for the work.

Chadwick said the team brought "unparalleled experience, capability, and active engineering and manufacturing resources" to the competition, and offered a competitive, low-risk and affordable solution.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Writing by Sandra Maler; Editing by Peter Cooney and Alan Crosby)

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