Thursday, July 24, 2008

Passing Gas

The Air Force needs new tankers. That is undebatable. The majority of the fleet is more than 40 years old. The handful of newer KC-10s isn't adequate for the entire task. That means new jets.

Unfortunately a corrupt AF procurement official entered a cozy arrangement with Boeing a couple of years ago and almost before she got comfortable in her corner office in company headquarters, the deal blew up. John McCain was instrumental in disclosing the crimes.

A new, competitive request for proposals was put forth and this time, a consortium of Northrop/Grumman and European producer EADS won the contract. Predictably Boeing squealed. Now the congress-critters who don't know which end of the jets pass the hot air out are demanding a rebid.

Those who don't quite understand that big airplanes are built from multi-source components think that having EADS in the mix is anti-American and dangerous. It's nothing of the sort. The Northrop jet will be assembled in the USA with an American boom, American engines, and American avionics by American workers paying American taxes. Boeing squeals on.

Don't believe me. Take a look at what retired Gen. Chuck Horner has to say about it:

From A Guy Who Got the T-Shirt

Chuck is no Perfumed Prince of the Pentagon. He's a shit-hot Fighter Pilot who's been downtown and seen the elephant. He was a participant in the first SAM raid of the North Vietnam campaign in an F-105. He spent his career flying the fast jets and leading from the front. He's got no nest to feather here, but he's got a dog in the hunt--he knows what the AF needs and he knows politics isn't good for achieving that.

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