Mayor Alvin Brown: It's time for Hawker Beeechraft to do the right thing.

Florida Times Union ^ | 2/21/12 | Mayor Alvin Brown

[DefenseMatters]

Mayor Alvin Brown: We need military aircraft built here

Jacksonville has a long history of supporting the military and its national security role. Jacksonville is a city of nearly a million people where one of every four residents is either on active duty, is serving in the reserves, or is a proud veteran. We are honored to host a military/veteran population of nearly 250,000 people in the Jacksonville community. From the start, my administration has made military issues a top priority.

When the United States Air Force announced its selection of the A-29 Super Tucano for its Light Air Support Program, I proclaimed it to be great economic news for the City of Jacksonville.

This state-of-the-art light air support aircraft will be built here, initially creating 50 high-wage jobs and representing millions in economic investment. I was extremely proud that Embraer, the plane’s manufacturer as part of the Sierra Nevada Corp. team, had selected our city for this important effort. This plane will play an integral role in completing our counterinsurgency mission in Afghanistan and in bringing our troops home safely and quickly. It is further affirmation that Jacksonville is the most military and business-friendly city in the nation.

Unfortunately, the investment that will happen here in Jacksonville is being held up by a lawsuit filed by the disqualified competitor for the Light Air Support contract.

[DefenseMatters]

Hawker Beechcraft is weeks away from filing for bankruptcy and they still don't understand why their unproven prototype AT-6 is too risky for a critical gov't contract. The Democrat Mayor of Jacksonville and the Republican Governor of Florida stand together for creating new jobs. Now the USAF needs get production of the A-29 Super Tucano in motion. Our troops and allies deserve better than selfish litigation of a moot point.

[Mr. K]

wow... 50 whole jobs?

[paddles]

I had a hard time understanding how bringing a lawsuit against your biggest customer (DoD) made good business sense until I found out Hawker Beech is half-owned by Goldman Sachs.

[Rich21IE]

Found: “The A-29 Super Tucano was built specifically for counterinsurgency missions”; could be interesting to see if they’re going to use it domestically.

[paddles]

It would make for some pretty long transit-times since these a/c are for the Afghans. OTOH...I suppose they’ll have their fair share of flight-time whores just like everyone else.