Posted on 05/23/2003 1:08:54 PM PDT by Fixit
Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt says the Department of Defense has approved the deal to lease and purchase new tankers for the United States Air Force.
Tiahrt says acceptance of the deal brings to an end two years of negotiations and wrangling over the agreement.
"Over the next year we should see more aerospace jobs come back into play in our community," Tiahrt said. "The upside is 4,000 when you suppliers into consideration."
Here are the basic terms of the deal:
"This is a long-term recapitalization plan," Tiahrt says. "This could include the replacement of all 544 KC-135's."
So far Boeing officials have not commented on the sale.
The deal should be signed in a week. Then it goes to two committees in the House of Representatives and two committees in the Senate. They have 30 days to comment on the deal.
'Good news'
"All the work we can get there (at Boeing) is good," says Phil Lambke, council member of District 3.
Although Boeing, like all four Wichita aircraft plants, is outside the city of Wichita's boundaries, District 3 borders the south Oliver Boeing plant and many of its residents work at the plant, the city's largest employer.
Lambke also has personal reasons to be pleased: A son and son-in-law work at the plant. Lambke says getting the tanker deal will help "stabilize" the workforce that has been hit hard by layoffs.
Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans was not available for comment Friday morning but Susan Swaney, executive director of the Derby Chamber of Commerce was, and she, like Lambke, was pleased.
"Whatever is good news for Boeing is good news for Derby also," she says.
Derby, which is just south of the Boeing plant, has a population of 19,500 and many of its residents have a Boeing connection, either as current or former employees, Swaney says.
See this article :
Holy mackerel! I never would have thought they would cost that much. Can these not be built cheaper than this? Maybe I don't know enough about these planes but that seems like a lot of money to me.
Good choice too ... though I'd still like 4 engines.
In The Dragon's Fury Series it's 767's.
The Japanese operate these as well.
They also have hardened decks to be used as cargo aircraft when needed. They can carry anything smaller than an Abrams.
So9
... and here's the Japanese AWACS that fixit mentioned.
Almost. The -135 series and the 707 share many features, but they are both variations from a basic design, one is not a variant of the other. Both derive from the Boeing model 367-80, a one off demonstrator, which Boeing developed on mostly on it's own nickle. The -135 design was approved and while the intial units were being built, the 707 design was completed. The -135 has a smaller diameter fuselage and is shorter. The Air Force does have some 707 based aircraft. The AWACS and JSTARs along with the some of the special air mission (VIP) fleet. The Navy's E-6 is also based on a 707 airframe. JSTARS and AWACS (us ones that is) use the much older, less powerful, and less fuel efficient TF-33 engine (comparable to commercial JT3D) while the E-6 along with the UK, France (excuse me while I spit) and Saudi AWACs use the CFM-56, F-108 in military parlance.
The -135Es were re-engined with commercial "take off" JT3D, redesignated TF-33 (with a different dash than those on AWACS and JSTARS) F-108/CFM-56 powers the -135Rs. They are going to re-engine the JSTARS (it's woefully underpowered) but not with F-108/CFM-56, but rather with JT8D, which will be an improvement, but not as much as F-108s would have been.
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