Kensington Palace in London had been hired. The governor of Alabama was set to play host, the astronaut Buzz Aldrin was on the guest list and the leading European aerospace company was to be the toast of the evening.

But the Pentagon’s decision last week to reopen the $35 billion competition for midair refueling tankers for the United States Air Force cast a pall over Sunday’s reception under a lemon-yellow moon in the gardens of the royal residence where the Princess of Wales once lived.

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