Ralph Crosby's quiet but persistent efforts to put EADS North America in the same league as its U.S.-based rival, Boeing, came to fruition in 2008.

The understated and focused chief executive officer was the architect behind the plan, once considered laughable by some in Congress and a long shot at best, to sell a European design to the U.S. Air Force for one of its largest contracts in recent history: A replacement for its aging KC-135 aerial refuelers.

The notion of the Air Force flying an Airbus A330-200 design to conduct its refueling missions around the globe, which are critical to executing fighter and bomber missions, was not seriously considered as an option in the Pentagon even as recently as 2002. That was when the Air Force was crafting a bloated sweetheart deal to keep alive Boeing's 767 production line, which was hit hard after the 9/11 attacks. Then, the only domestic option for the Pentagon was Boeing; consolidation decisions approved in the preceding decades positioned the Chicago-based firm as the only maker of widebodies in the U.S. Senior Pentagon officials found that retaining one U.S. wide-body maker would work because the global market, including EADS subsidiary Airbus's product line, would provide sufficient competition.

At that time, however, officers in the Air Force seemed so sure the next aerial refueler would be a 767 that the discussion centered only on when the deal would commence, for how much and whether it would be a controversial lease or buy.

Crosby, a graduate of West Point and no stranger to the value of subtle but relentless strategizing, had his sights set on securing a U.S. partner to join forces for a competitive proposal to Boeing's 767.

In a dramatic series of midnight phone calls on the eve of the Air Force Assn.'s 2007 conference in Orlando, Fla., Crosby finally sealed an agreement with Northrop Grumman, the corporation where he collected much of his program management experience throughout the 1980s. Northrop Grumman President/CEO Ronald Sugar agreed to marry the companies in a joint bid, with Northrop Grumman as prime and EADS North America as its primary subcontractor, supplying the A330-200 airframe.

This bid might not have happened; until the announcement, Sugar was unwilling to fully commit. Selling refuelers was never in Northrop Grumman's strategic plan. But chasing the improbable is something of a sport for Crosby, who includes big game hunting in Africa and vintage car racing among his leisure pursuits.

With Sugar on board, the unlikely team was now set to take on Boeing's perceived monopoly on Pentagon widebody sales. And, on Feb. 29, 2008, only six years after taking the reins of EADS's U.S. arm, Crosby's years-long vision to break that mold was realized.

The Air Force stunned the industry with its decision to award the unlikely team a $1.5-billion contract to begin work on four developmental KC-45 tankers. The buy was anticipated to be worth $35 billion. More importantly, however, the win would reshape the battle lines of the global rivalry between Boeing and Airbus, helping Airbus gain ground in Boeing's backyard.

Crosby's plan included the construction of an A330-200 tanker final assembly plant in Alabama contingent upon the win. This strategy was widely thought to merely be the start of a larger Airbus footprint here, possibly ushering in future A350 work to take advantage of a favorable exchange rate.