Decades of rivalry, competitive upsets and unfair trade allegations have come to a full rolling boil for Boeing Co. and European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. as the 10-year battle to replace the Eisenhower-era tanker fleet Boeing built for the U.S. Air Force enters the final round.

While Chicago-based Boeing appears to be the odds-on favorite to win the $35-billion contract as Air Force buyers compare the two proposals, both sides are pouring on the rhetorical pressure in hopes of gaining longer-term political advantage.

All this stuff about the (World Trade Organization), all the advertisements within the Beltway, all that's meant for Congress, Isaqquah, Wash.-based aviation consultant Scott Hamilton says.

So far this year, Boeing has spent $2.6 million and EADS $1.1 million on full-page ads in the Washington Post and other outlets touting their tankers, according to Campaign Media Analysis Group, a Virginia-based political ad-tracking firm.

Advertising is a tool, and there are a lot of tools we use to tell our story, a Boeing spokesman says. It's not just a tool to talk about the airplane; it's also a tool we use to set the record straight when our competitor distorts the truth.

The battle is so intense because there's far more at stake than a fixed-price order for 179 tankers, whose profit margins likely will be squeezed by the intense competition and the Pentagon's born-again belief in austerity.