The tanker deal is the second controversy this year to involve Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, and the Pentagon.

Boeing officials said this week that they were still committed to the tanker deal.

For Boeing, the tanker deal will keep alive a 767 production line whose future was threatened by a falloff in commercial orders.

The tanker deal emerged as one of the more dramatic fights over the current Defense Department budget.

In an interview, Mr. Riley said he believed that the tanker deal will go to the House and Senate floor.

Moreover, the tanker deal would keep alive the company's 767 production line, which has only a small backlog of orders and could face closure without the deal.

Dex continues to cross paths with Sable, in dealing with both the African tanker deal and the situation with the abandoned mine.

The controversy over the tanker deal increased for reasons beyond the deal's financial structure.

At the moment, a decision on the tanker deal is before Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

By next year, military contracts are expected to provide more than half the company's business, and the controversial $20 billion aerial tanker deal was considered a plum for the company.