Posted on 09/10/2008 12:39:15 PM PDT by Freeport
The U.S. Department of Defense announced this morning that it is terminating the U.S. Air Force refueling tanker competition, and has notified Congress and the competing industry teams of the move.
Halting the current competition can be viewed as a win for Boeing, which complained that the quick pace of the recompete didn't give it enough time to substantively change its proposal. The deferment would allow the company to rebuild its proposal strategy around a larger aircraft like the 777.
(Excerpt) Read more at aviationweek.com ...
My patence with Gates is all but gone. I think his ass should be on they way out.
I have to disagree. This particular competition had entirely too many shenanigans on all sides. Better to scrap it and start over with a fair-to-all-parties specification and new Air Force staff.
Frankly, I would be a little worried if the contract went to Airbus. It's a foreign multinational corporation, and I would be concerned about spare parts availability, or some 'hold-up' on components from Europe for assembly.
Such an important and expensive program has now gone bust for the time being. Someone’s head should roll for this level of mismanagement and incompetence.
I work for Boeing and I still have to agree. The entire deal has been horribly mismanaged within all parties.
Very unlikely given the regulations resticting employment of
former senior DoD officials at DoD contractor companies.
:Nodding in agreement: This gives the new AF leadership time to finish cleaning house at SAF/AQ and w/n AFMC. But I still think that in the end, the buy will be split between Boeing and Northrop Grumman.
It’s a foreign multinational corporation, and I would be concerned about spare parts availability, or some ‘hold-up’ on components from Europe for assembly.
And that’s why we should be buying from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, or Boeing. They should have Pratt& Whitney or GE engines.
Nothing in the US military arsenal should be purchased from outside the USA.
The trouble with that assertion is that very many of the parts and subassemblies of the 777 and the 767 are built in foreign countries. So many, in fact, that it prolly would not have made much difference which company got the contract - the same % of the plane would have been built here.
The amount of outsourcing on the parts for the 777 was one of the production highlights we heard about when my group visited the Boeing wide-body assembly plant in Everett. Huge chunks of the plane come from Italy, Spain, Japan, etc...I often wonder to this day how they manage to make any profit with all the shipping involved.
Will Boeing now design a new airframe?
Because the 767 and the 777 were the wrong fit for the requirements.
Did you know one essential engine part of old KC-135 tankers is build in France?
Did you also know Iran still operates its fleet of Boeing aircrafts and F-14s? Iran has a 747 as tanker.
To worry about spare parts is just laughable.
Your lack of knowledge is laughable.
Thanks for supporting my point on spare parts. The Boeing 747, and the F-14(Grumman). The Iranian 14's(20 out of 79 delivered) are flying only by canibalizing the others or black market parts since the embargo of parts for them, the rest are in the boneyard in Arizona.
The 747(5) frame can use a variety of engines, including the ones the French produce and sell to Iran.
Good try though.
Iran lost about 10 F-14s during Iran-Iraq war. About 60 are left. Between 20 and 25 aircrafts are still in service. You can't keep up a fleet since 1979 just by cannibalizing. The main armament of F-14 is the Phoenix missiles. Iran just has a few left. Iran is using the Tomcat as an AWACS. Therefore Iran won't need a bigger operating fleet.
The 747(5) frame can use a variety of engines, including the ones the French produce and sell to Iran.
And out of these four original tankers bought before the revolution in Iran five are still in operation. Not bad.
The whole electronic on the NG proposal was US made. Just the airframe will be foreign.
Relax! It's a commercial aircraft.
If France won't sell the spare parts Germany, Spain or the UK will do or ask one of other 60 airlines operating A330.
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