"We're moving ahead in seeking partners with the expertise to put forward a competent bid," Sean O'Keefe, chief executive of EADS North America, said on the sidelines of the Army Aviation Association Convention in Fort Worth, Texas.

O'Keefe declined to name any potential industry partners or to confirm that L-3 Communications and Raytheon are among them, as some have speculated.

"It's a pretty wide-open playing field," he said, adding that EADS is "still in discussions with a number of" potential partners.

Still, the company has not made a final decision on whether to submit a bid, O'Keefe cautioned.

EADS was sent back to the drawing board after the Pentagon threw out the company's winning bid with partner Northrop Grumman earlier this year over competitive objections by Boeing Corp.

Northrop Grumman said that the terms of the new bid proposal unfairly favored Boeing and dropped out of the contest.

O'Keefe said that EADS will not seek a partner to replace the role Northrop Grumman had assumed under the initial bid proposal and would instead do some of that work itself.

Now EADS will seek partners with demonstrated experience in particular aspects of the bidding process.

"We are looking for partners with demonstrated competencies that will enhance our combined effort -- where ours is good and theirs is well-demonstrated," O'Keefe said.

The US Department of Defense announced on March 31 it would extend the deadline for bidding on the US Air Force tanker contract by 60 days if it receives formal notification from EADS that it intends to make an offer.

Boeing, which has vied for years with EADS over the tanker plane project, has accused its rival of trying to manipulate the contest.

The World Trade Organization said Monday that it could not get involved in the dispute because it is not tasked with ruling on allegations of protectionism in trade in military equipment.

The winner of the lucrative contract to supply 179 planes to update an aging 1950s era Boeing fleet of tankers is expected to be declared by "early fall," a Pentagon spokesman said recently.

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