In Tanker Bid, It Was Boeing vs. Bold Ideas

[tpsbmam]

Source: New York Times

The technology to pass fuel from one plane to another may not be rocket science — in fact, aerial fuel booms have been in use for more than 50 years — but it helped Airbus’s parent and its partner, Northrop Grumman, establish their technical bona fides.

Eager to enter the American defense market, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, the owner of Airbus, made several bold plays, perhaps none more dramatic than building the $100 million state-of-the-art refueling boom on spec.

As a result, Boeing, the pride of American aerospace, was outmaneuvered on its home turf for a contract that could grow to $100 billion, becoming one of the largest military purchases in history.

The parent of Airbus, known as EADS, and Northrop Grumman proposed a tanker made from a refitted A330 jetliner that could carry more fuel than the rival proposal, a modified Boeing 767. It also offered more flexibility for carrying cargo, transporting troops, airlifting refugees and delivering humanitarian aid.

Boeing, the heavy favorite to win the contract, having built earlier tankers, promised a new boom but did not build a prototype. One analyst who followed the contest said that Boeing, based in Chicago, seemed arrogant and offered a plan that Air Force officials thought would deliver only 19 tankers by 2013 compared with 49 by the Airbus team.

“The Boeing team was not responsive and often was not even polite,” said Loren B. Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., based on conversations he said he had with defense officials. “Somehow that all eluded senior management,” Mr. Thompson said. “They were not even aware there was a problem.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/business/worldbusiness/10tanker.html?ref=business

---

Complacency after years of no-bid contracts.

[KeepItReal]

1. K&R

(eom)

[onehandle]

2. Arrogance and Greed is sending us to the bottom of the technology heap.

We are not #1.

[OKthatsIT]

5. Boeing moved toChina...they aren't American anymore

[dysfunctional press]

6. since when is chicago in china?

:shrug:

try again.

[1776Forever]

14. Or Ohio (where my son works for them) or WA??? Beyond me why we are giving $$ away to Airbus!

I don't get it - All these people loosing their jobs and our tax money going over seas and all the corporations building plants just over the border in Mexico -

Chrysler to build $570 million engine plant in Mexico
Nissan Subsidiary Building $300M, 700-Worker Plant in Central Mexico

And a lot of people would rather talk down the Corporations that are still giving good jobs in this country!

:eyes:

[OKthatsIT]

18. www.boeingchina.com

http://www.boeingchina.com/en/index.htm


When the Govt doesn't their corrupt butts anymore, what are ya gonna do? They'll move where th money is.
================================================================
US targets Boeing over China technology
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-07 07:02

SEATTLE, United States - The US government is poised to sue Boeing Co. for selling jets to China equipped with a computer chip that has military applications, a report said.

Visitors speak near models of the Airbus A380 at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, near Paris, June 17, 2005.
The aviation giant, whose production base is in Seattle, could be hit with up to 47 million dollars in fines if found guilty of 94 violations of the Arms Control Act, according to the Seattle Times report.

more...http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/07/content_457882.htm

[dysfunctional press]

19. LOTS of companies have chinese divisions- it doesn't mean that they've "moved" there...

Boeing's headquarters are in chicago, and they have LARGE production facilities around the u.s., most notably in seattle, where their headquarters used to be.

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. Tell that to the 44,000 americans who would have had jobs...

... if the Pentagon had awarded it to the american company.

[OwnedByFerrets]

13. So now I guess we folks in Alabama arent Americans anymore??

We are very glad to have those jobs, ty.

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. Q: How many Georgians will the Airbus deal employ.

A: 1000.

I guess it's good to have a red state president who failed math.

[NickB79]

27. Hmmm, inferior equipment for our military, or extra jobs for the citizens

Tough call.

God, what has happened to this country that decisions like this even have to be considered?

[girl gone mad]

8. That's what happens when..

management gets raises and bonuses regardless of performance and short-term stock gains become more important than long term success.

[Supersedeas]

3. an Administration acknowledgement that American innovation is not top notch??

[fshrink]

4. It's not about innovation,

it's about entitlement elevated to the status of national spirit. Run by an entitled moron, this country has somehow made the attitude fashionable. Boeing's management probably expected to get the contract at the political level and proceeded on that assumption until it was too late. Then, in a typical WH move, the so-called management pleaded no-knowledge and let the soldiers take the rap.

[JPZenger]

7. Italian Helicopter Deal -Payoff for Iraq Troops?

A few years ago, the US government enterred into a large contract with an Italian company for new helicopters, including the President's helicopters. I suspect that was a payoff to the Italian government to get them to send troops to Iraq.

Hillary Clinton strongly supported giving that contract to the Italian company vs. US helicopter companies, because the Italian company promised some jobs for New York State.

[midnight armadillo]

29. I recall that differently

I seem to remember that there weren't any US companies with competitive aircraft for that contract because non-US companies have surpassed US makers of civilian helicopters.

[vssmith]

9. Bush is willing to write checks for

everyone for $600 to give the economy a boost. Why spend tax dollars this way?

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. Right. "Hello... White House?"

"Don't you think that putting 44,000 americans out of work kind of undermines the whole economic stimulus point"

[OwnedByFerrets]

17. Not ONE Boing employee will lose their job

because of this. They have so much backlog in commercial orders they cant keep up. Dont believe the rhetoric.

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. Bullshit. $40 billion means staffing adjustments.

The issue isn't primarily those who will lose jobs at Boeing - it's the 44,000 who won't get the new jobs.

[OwnedByFerrets]

21. Bullshit right back at you!!!!

We are going to enjoy those jobs down here in ALABAMA. Its means a lot to us.

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. The choice is between 44k jobs in Washington, Illinois and Ohio

vs 1000 jobs in Alabama and 43k jobs in France.

I pick the former.

[OwnedByFerrets]

26. Glad YOU dont get to choose

MY welfare.:evilgrin:

[crimsonblue]

12. Doesn't help that Boeing was in a management transition during all this

Their CEO, Alan Mullally, left for Ford and other senir staff left, leaving the whole management chain a bit disorganized. Also, Boeing's number 1 priority was (and still is) the new 787 Dreamliner. They are behind on it and have been pullins staff from most other departments and projects so that they can get it finished. This could explain a lot.

[JBoy]

15. Sounds to me like EADS/NG did their homework,

sharpened their pencils and simply provided the winning solution.

This procurement would have had explicit requirements and a clear evaluation criteria - likely either the lowest-cost compliant bid or most "points-per dollar" bid that would win. I don't know which this one was, but the bidding teams would have known in advance. On a bid this size, each team would have had dozens, perhaps hundreds of engineers, cost analysts, marketeers and hired gun consultants working on their proposals. Sometimes the underdog or outsider is more ready to think outside the box. The incumbent or front-runner can fall into the trap of drinking their own bathwater.

It's only through competition like this that the big Defense companies stay innovative and anywhere close to efficient. Boeing will do a post-mortem on their loss, learn from their mistakes and be smarter on their next bid.

[Timmy5835]

22. Since Airbus is a foreign company.......

What would happen if, God forbid, we had a European conflict or if we got into a conflict that France didn't like? Say good bye to spare and replacement parts for those planes. Really thinking about or national security ?????????

[KDLarsen]

25. Not much..

Given that the primary French involvement in most Airbis is the assembly, which will be done in Mobile. Off the top of my head, the wing sections is coming from BAe Systems in the UK, the fuselage sections from Germany, the boom from CASA in Spain and the engines will be supplied by GE in the US.

[Political Heretic]

24. I don't like a net loss of american jobs. I do like it when arrogant corporations

...with a sense of entitlement get rocked on their ass by competition.

[ohio2007]

28. $400 hammers and $600 toilet seats lost out to $100 hammers and $200 seats

more bang for the buck ?