Posted on 03/01/2008 8:45:57 AM PST by Sons of Union Vets
Northrop Grumman Corp. and the maker of Airbus planes won a multibillion-dollar Air Force contract to build 179 tankers used to refuel military aircraft mid-flight, a congressional staffer familiar with the award said Friday.
The staffer, who learned of the award from a Northrop Grumman employee, spoke on condition of anonymity.
The selection of Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. comes as a surprise to Wall Street and major blow to Boeing Co.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
EADS/Northrop upsets Boeing in Air Force tanker competition — analyst
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1978471/posts
Northrop/EADS wins [Air Force] tanker contract
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1978473/posts
Alabama And Mobile Excited Over $40 Billion Deal (Air Force Tanker)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1978655/posts
Congress in turmoil over Air Force tanker decision
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1978622/posts
U.S. Job Creation Not a Factor in Tanker Contract Award
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1978620/posts
Many threads and no answers. What are they thinking, if anything?
Thank you for posting the other articles here. I am still a FReeper “newbie” and I didn’t realize that articles about this “outsourcing”/industrial-military complex version of a Monroe Doctrine violation had already been posted.
Among the consequences of this nightmare are IMHO:
1. A foreign power will get its foot into the door of our U.S. military.
2. U.S. taxpayers will be bailing out Airbus EADS (recall the insider trading scandal and how the stocks went south???) vis a vis a United States government contract.
1. EADS/Northrup is going to produce a better product for the price the U.S. government is going to pay.
2. See #1.
How stupid can we be as a nation and a government?
For every dollar the the Air Force spends on US made product, the funds multiply by seven times throughout the economy.
Thus a $40 Billion Boeing contract is worth $280 billion to our economy:
an Airbus $40 billion contract is worth zero!
1. EADS/Northrup is going to produce a better product for the price the U.S. government is going to pay.
2. See #1.
3.... In other words: LOW BIDDER.
We would have no idea how stupid it is possible to be but we are doing our best to find out.
As you can read on the other threads, a Boeing plane would have been dependent on Chinese communist parts. I personally trust the French and Germans slightly farther than I do the ChiComs.
And, for that matter, I’d rather encourage military spending in Republican states as opposed to military spending in heavily Democrat states.
You wouldn't make a very good propagandist. Good propaganda has some basis in fact.
EADS/Northrop may simply be producing a much better aircraft for slightly more money (and in light of the comments I've seen on various threads, this could very well be the case).
I'd also suggest that Boeing didn't do itself any favors by: (1) failing to meet deadlines in the delivery of other aircraft in recent months, and (2) having a couple of its executives involved in a scandal involving potential bribery of U.S. military and/or government officials in the months leading up to this selection.
What are they thinking, if anything?
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It looks like they are not thinking! Or if they are, their thinking doesn’t seem to be oriented in a direction that could be called “Patriotic!” Sue Payton sounds like nothing more than a “politically correct” bureaucrat who is either buying into the socialist E.U. “globalist economy” mantra herself or is parroting the E.U. mantra of some of her masters in the Pentagon.
One thing I am thinking about is this. What will become of the Department of Defense Quality Assurance inspectors whose job has traditionally been to see to it that manufacturers of military equipment are manufacturing said equipment according to government specifications spelled out in the defense contract. Is the Department of Defense going to be further downsized? Who is going to be watching Northrup EADS? If there are tanker manufacturing problems similar to the ones that delayed delivery of the civilian Airbus A380, what then? Can we put the war on pause until Northrup EADS is ready to deliver? Inquiring taxpayers want to know.
I think that we the taxpayers had better start hollering about this one!
As you can read on the other threads, a Boeing plane would have been dependent on Chinese communist parts.
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Good point - as long as the French and Germans aren’t relying on Chinese communist parts vis a vis their suppliers.
How stupid can we be as a nation and a government?
For every dollar the the Air Force spends on US made product, the funds multiply by seven times throughout the economy.........
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I totally agree.
25,000 new jobs in Alabama isn’t exactly chicken feed when it comes to putting money into the US economy...
And don’t forget Boeing built that $1B Secret Satellite that failed after launch and had to be shot down.
That's already been accomplished by the likes of Hawker Siddeley, DeHavilland, Dassault, Aerospatiale, FN, H&K and Beretta.
“As you can read on the other threads, a Boeing plane would have been dependent on Chinese communist parts”
And the EADS plane would not be? The fact that Airbus and Chinese companies are working ever more closely together, including the transfer of work and technology to Chinese aerospace companies who may then utilize that knowledge for both military AND commercial applications is not an issue?
And you honestly trust the French more than the Chinese?Honestly? Despite the overt talk in Brussels of countering American economic, political and eventually military influence?
As you can read on the other threads, a Boeing plane would have been dependent on Chinese communist parts.
What percentage?
And why do you object to this?
Do you have issue with 48% of a plane being built by French Muslims?
I agree...Not to mention it will create about 7,500 jobs for California and other states too.
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