Washington Post: A Foreign Air Raid?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/03/AR2008030303194.html

Congress, Union Leaders Chafe at European Firm's Winning Bid to Build Air Force Tankers

By Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 4, 2008; Page D01

Congressional leaders and union officials are calling on the Pentagon to reconsider its decision to award one of the biggest U.S. military aircraft contracts to a team that includes a European company, saying it puts U.S. jobs and security at risk.

The Air Force on Friday chose the team of Northrop Grumman, based in Los Angeles, and European Aeronautic Defence and Space, the parent company of Airbus and Boeing's rival in the commercial airline industry, to build 179 tanker aircraft. The $40 billion deal is the initial phase of a program to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of Boeing KC-135s.


Aerospace workers in Everett, Wash., protest the Air Force contract awarded to a team that includes European Aeronautic Defence and Space, which is the parent company of Airbus and a rival to Boeing. (By Dan Delong -- Associated Press)


The contract to supply the tankers had initially been awarded to Boeing but was withdrawn in 2004 over a procurement scandal that resulted in officials from Boeing and the Air Force being sent to prison. Boeing had been expected to win the subsequent contract again, according to many defense analysts, and the win by Northrop Grumman and EADS was widely hailed as a surprise. It gives the companies a leg up on orders to eventually replace all of the Air Force's tankers, work that could be worth as much as $100 billion.

Many members of Congress, especially from Washington state, Boeing's manufacturing base, responded with fury, saying that the Pentagon had steered a lucrative contract to a foreign company at a time when the U.S. economy is teetering on the brink of recession.

"We're going to fight this," said Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.). "This is fatally flawed. We're going to start this whole thing over. People are outraged that we'd have one of the biggest procurements done by a foreign company."

FULL story at link.

[Lex1775]

1. What a load of crap.

The fact of the matter is Boeing tried to pass off sub-standard equipment and got their ass handed to them. Not only is the NORTHROP/GRUMMAN (American Aerospace Company) / EADS design better, they are adding jobs in America. They have agreed to build TWO assembly plants in Alabama and it is projected that the majority of the subcomponents will be manufactured at US comapanies.

Go jump in a lake Boeing.

[Doctor Cynic]

2. Exactly.

I see no reason why the CEOs of Boeing should be swimming in tax dollars by waving the flag even if their product is determined to be inferior. It blurs the line between a corporation and government.

[blues90]

3. screw the boeing workers !

I have no sympathy for anyone who makes a living off making war equipement . If they want to make passenger planes that's one thing .