And despite a likely counter-ruling that the U.S. subsidized Boeing by, among other things, letting it use military contracts as R&D that helped Boeing's commercial side, the WTO ruling is certainly being used to fuel the Boeing bid. The Wall Street Journal quotes Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) as saying in reference to the ruling, "We're going to continue to make an issue out of this. I think that you'd have to take it into account on their [Northrop-EADS] bid somehow."

Meanwhile, the WTO plans to add fuel to this fire in December by issuing a ruling on Airbus's counter-argument that U.S. government aid to Boeing (e.g., research grants and tax breaks) was illegal. One thing's for sure, we have not heard the last of this matter and the conversation will become more heated when the Pentagon puts out the tanker bid in the next few months.

Peter Cohan is a management consultant, Babson professor and author of eight books, including You Can't Order Change. Follow him on Twitter. He has no financial interest in the other securities mentioned.