Posted on 03/21/2010 9:20:30 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. isn’t planning to bid for the Pentagon’s $35 billion Air Force aerial-refueling tanker program, Chief Executive Officer Alexei Fyodorov said, contradicting U.S. media reports.
The Wall Street Journal reported March 19 that United Aircraft, the maker of Ilyushin transport planes, was preparing a bid to be announced as early as today. The Washington Post also wrote about the plan on March 20.
Both media reports cited John Kirkland, an attorney at Luce Forward in Los Angeles who said a venture would be announced between United Aircraft and a small, unidentified U.S. defense contractor on March 22 and that he represented the group.
CEO Fyodorov, in the Bloomberg interview, said he wasn’t familiar with Kirkland. United Aircraft is Russia’s state- controlled holding company for airplane production.
“Either it’s all a huge misunderstanding” or a matter of the Russians not wanting to confirm the plan “until something is officially announced,” Kirkland said in a March 21 interview with Bloomberg. “If I’ve been duped, it’s a massive conspiracy, but anything is possible.”
“I’ve spoken with lots of people on the Russian side” including from United Aircraft, Kirkland said, adding that he was told Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had approved the plan to bid. “That’s consistent with what I’ve been told for the last six months,” he said
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
this tanker story has been one of the strangest things that I have ever followed. bribery, people sent to prison, decisions made and then unmade. and then the possibility of the russians making a bid for a USAF tanker.
it doesn’t get any stranger than that.
When there is $35 billion dollars at stake(not including money for spare parts for 30-50 years) a lot of strange things will happen
You are right about that — it has been strange for a long time.
Can’t Russia just print its own worthless, colored toilet paper? Why should it bid for ours?
Kinda leaves at a point we don’t know what to believe, doesn’t it. :-)
Maybe there’ll be something on it in a day or two.
It sure does — just more of the same with the Tanker contract.
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