Posted on 02/29/2008 9:23:20 PM PST by NoLibZone
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Air Force on Friday announced one of the largest military acquisition programs in U.S. history, saying the service had chosen Northrop Grumman over Boeing to replace its aging air refueling tanker fleet.
(SNIP)
Boeing proposed a tanker based on its 767 commercial airliner, while Northrop -- working with Boeing arch-rival Airbus and its parent company, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) -- offered a model based on the Airbus A330 airliner, which is larger than the 767.
(SNIP)
But one lawmaker called the decision to award the contract to Northrop Grumman a blow to the American defense industry and an economic boon for European countries.
"These are the same European governments who are unwilling to support us in the global war on terror and over the last few months refused to provide even an additional 100 soldiers apiece for Afghanistan operations," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California.
"Instead, we have to send 3,200 additional U.S. Marines to Afghanistan while they take $35 billion in American taxpayer contracts."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“These are the same European governments who are unwilling to support us in the global war on terror and over the last few months refused to provide even an additional 100 soldiers apiece for Afghanistan operations,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California.
“Instead, we have to send 3,200 additional U.S. Marines to Afghanistan while they take $35 billion in American taxpayer contracts.”
The Air Force claims they went by the checklist and this time....it was entirely done in the interest of getting the best aircraft at the cheapest price.
We’ll be building these tankers right here in Alabama.
Don’t we have a domestic content requirement or something?
Only 58% of it.
Wouldn’t it have been better to build 100% of it?
A Hunter shout-out.
A lot of Airbus parts are sourced in the US. A lot of Boeing parts are sourced overseas.
I’ve watched Airbus landing gear assemblies as they were being forged in a plant in Wisconsin. The same plant turns out assemblies for Boeing C-17s and replacement parts for C-5s, as well as signifcant parts of the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket boosters.
Some other programs:
Northrop Grumman and EADS North America collaborate on U.S. Air Force personnel recovery vehicle program.
The Euro Hawk program is a private-sector initiative of EADS and Northrop Grumman to provide unmanned high-altitude surveillance capabilities for the German Air Force.
The two companies led the Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution offer to provide NATO with the Alliance Ground Surveillance system, a long-needed capability that transforms NATO’s response force operation capabilities.
More recently, EADS and Northrop Grumman signed a memorandum of understanding to identify and pursue business opportunities in the emerging global ballistic-missile defense market.
B4DH
Amen
and a McCain shout down.
Boeing is raking it in. The tankers have to be replaced, Boeing tried to pull a fast on and lease the tankers and 2 of their execs went to prison over it. (Deserved) The second and more important is France elected a america friendly president. We want to reward those that are moving in the right direction. It is a smart move and a lesson to many other nations.
Well, this will mean 7,500 jobs for California where Northrop is based.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to build 100% of it?”
Next time, Boeing will have its pencils sharpened. And, it won’t try to bribe their way into a contract that was awful for taxpayers.
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