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Sorry Race. I understand the frustration but I haven't yet heard from you how you would fix it. If we can't compete with the world it remains OUR problem not theirs and not the fault of the consumer, wherever they may be, domestic or otherwise.

As far as the USCG is concerned, since you must be talking about the Aerospaciale H65 Dolphin, which American helicopter company makes a competive product, again?

This might be a good time to bring up: In order to get the contract, Aerospaciale was forced to put GE engines in the helo. This compromised the power, and created huge reliability issues. It's sorta like saying we'll buy a bunch of jaguars, but we want GM V8's in them. Sure it can be made to work but it will sacrifice reliability and performance. Maintenance issues are out of this world.

Furthermore... is the american taxpayer then required to pay more for helicopters in order to "buy american" at any price? Gee... thanks... as a taxpayer that pays enough to support a whole platoon of marines I'm really really grateful.