Boeing awarded $35B AF Tanker contract!

[TriggerHappy]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/industrie...nker-contract/

If its not boeing, I'm not going.

Its good to see our government give and American company our business. Airbus and EADS were the competitors... No one likes the french....

The replacement of the KC-135 tanker/fueler.

[ruthabagah]

Boeing won…. Yet I am not sure that we got the best deal.
 
Boeing can't make the planes that the AF originally wanted and EADS can. They would both be made in the US (Alabama vs. Washington & Kansas), but Boeing was smart enough to convince congress that EADS was a "foreign" company despite all the work being done in the US. Now we get planes we don't want or need, but they're produced by an "American" firm (who outsources).
If Washington state wasn't "in play" while Alabama is firmly Republican, this wouldn't have happened.
 
 

[Troublco]

I agree; I think contracts this large for our Military (or for any branch of the Government) should be with an American company. The EADS product may be a good one, but American tax dollars should stay in America! I know Northrup was the face of EADS for their product; and I've heard that they were supposed to be built here. How much of them? Assembly?

Wonder if the refueling probe falling off the EADS tanker a few weeks ago in flight had anything to do with it?

The 135's are older than the C-141's that went to the boneyard and were immediately cut up because they had no useful life left in them. I think the country got its money's worth out of the 135, and then some.

[Troublco]

Boeing won…. Yet I am not sure that we got the best deal.
 
Now we get planes we don't want or need, but they're produced by an "American" firm (who outsources).
 

So because you don't like Boeing, EADS was the best choice?

Planes we don't need or want? Whatever. I've flown on some of those 135's. They desperately need to be replaced. If Northrup Grumman wanted to enter the contest and build something here, I think they should have designed their own plane (but that is just my opinion).

The winners here are the folks who have been trying to keep 50 year old planes operating while they fly the crap out of them. Tankers maintain a grueling ops tempo, and they are finally going to get the replacements they need.

[ronaldrwl]

This was a long hard battle for Boeing. Boeing lost the bid at first because of some shenanigans. Are government is so retarded. They screwed this whole process up from the beginning. I give Boeing lots of credit for fighting through the red tape of the Leftards that tried to give this contract our European allies/rivals.

[Hoosier]

The argument that we shouldn't buy from EADS because they aren't "American" (even though by law the ships would be made stateside, in AL as someone mentioned) backfires on us, because our European allies frequently buy gear from us. So now they may feel punitive or just that they need to "protect their domestic producers" like we did.

All the people building the aircraft, all the tooling would have been in Alabama. If I'm not mistaken it would have been a new plant.

Wonder if similar "logic" was what skuppered the XM-8. I think it all has far more to do with politics than what's really best for the services.

Edit: Speaking of EU birds, have you seen their new C-130 replacement? It's called the A400M.

H.

[Monky]

From what I have read it said that EADS won the original contract. Northrup backed out because the requirements favored Boeing. After EADS won Boeing filed a grievance of some sort, which resulted in the requirements being changed for the plane and ultimately allowing Boeing to win.

Sounds like a typical politics in America.. Someone made some money off of it. Looks like we aren't getting the 'best' product that would be produced here.. but politics trumps reality.

[hollohas]

I don't know shit about aircraft, especially military aircraft. But I do know that I fly a couple times every week as a passenger and I would much rather be on an Airbus. Although I'm sure that's due the the carrier's choice in purchasing a nicer package from Airbus than many of the carriers that fly Boeing do. And the fact that the domestic carrier's Airbus aren't as ancient as all the Boeings floating around. I don't fly American because those MD's are the worst.

Huh, turns out I do like something from France...damn.

[def4pos8]

The Airbus can be a decent machine -- until the electrons go on vacation.

I've read that Boeing products essentially have a "kill HAL" switch that reduces the computers' cognitive abilities to that of an infant -- just enough to help the aircrew with basic control. The computer -- "HAL" -- controls an Airbus. If the crew tries to do something HAL doesn't agree with, it doesn't happen. I imagine this can be a bad thing at times when military aviators are performing some sort of gonzo mission.

Also, I believe that Airbus products simply use too much plastic. At least one lost its vertical stabilizer over New York city. That was a very bad day for the cargo. It was especially hard on the flight deck crew as they were the first people to arrive at the scene of the wreck. I prefer to fly as cargo on transports with maximum metal/minimal plastic. Of course, I'm just showing my age that way.

[theGinsue]

From what I have read it said that EADS won the original contract. Northrup backed out because the requirements favored Boeing. After EADS won Boeing filed a grievance of some sort, which resulted in the requirements being changed for the plane and ultimately allowing Boeing to win.

Sounds like a typical politics in America.. Someone made some money off of it. Looks like we aren't getting the 'best' product that would be produced here.. but politics trumps reality.

BINGO!

We have a winner.

Personally, I can not stand Boeing. I worked for them for a whole 3 months and couldn't stand how that "ran" things. The company is just a bunch of arrogant self-serving whiney b!tches that think the contract was supposed to have just been handed to them and they cried foul when it wasn't.

It's a wonder Boeing had the cajones and audacity to raise a stink about the percieved unfairness in the acquisition process of this whole deal after they were caught bribing the USAF #1 Acquisition officer (http://www.nlpc.org/stories/2010/03/...boeing-scandal ; http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/010505g1.htm).

Yeah; they've got some balls! As taxpayers, let's just hope they can produce a safe and quality aircraft without fleecing the American citizen any more than they already have.