U.S. Reopens Bidding on Flawed Tanker Contract

[mpenguin1]

The Air Force will reopen the bidding for a multibillion-dollar contract for midair refueling tankers, the defense secretary, Robert Gates, announced on Wednesday.

The decision comes in the wake of a report by the Government Accountability Office that found flaws in the process that initially awarded the contract to a partnership of Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus over a competing bid by Boeing, which filed a protest.

The action reignites the controversy surrounding the largest trans-Atlantic military contract. The Pentagon’s decision will also enter the realm of presidential politics because John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had long been a critic of Boeing’s initial bid and as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee held a series of hearings that opened the door to the bid made by Northrop and European Aeronautic Defense and Space.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/bu...in&oref=slogin

[Orange Anchor]

DATE LINE: JULY 2037 Washington DC The Air Force will reopen for the 63rd time the bidding for a multi-bazillion dollar contract for midair refueling tankers, the defense secretary, Chelsea Clinton, announced on Wednesday.

The decision comes in the wake of the 317th report by the Government Accountability Office that found flaws in the process that ihas awarded the contract alternately to Boeing or Airbus for the last 29 years. The action reignites the longest running contract controversy in US military history.

[aloft]

Originally Posted by mpenguin1

The action reignites the controversy surrounding the largest trans-Atlantic military contract. The Pentagon’s decision will also enter the realm of presidential politics because John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had long been a critic of Boeing’s initial bid and as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee held a series of hearings that opened the door to the bid made by Northrop and European Aeronautic Defense and Space.

Why does McCain have such a hard-on for sticking it to American aerospace workers? Northrop is just window dressing, it's an EADS aircraft through and through.

Buy American, dammit!

[Orange Anchor]

Originally Posted by aloft

buy American, dammit!

If by that you mean solely American, that would have no one buying Boeing or any other machine.

787 partners.. Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy, France, Sweden, India

See info below and check other aircraft. It may have at one time been an airplane of 1 country.. no more.

Boeing manufactures the 787's tail fin at its plant in Frederickson, Washington, the ailerons and flaps at Boeing Australia, and fairings at Boeing Canada Technology. For its entire history, Boeing has guarded its techniques for designing and mass producing commercial jetliner wings. For economic reasons, the wings are manufactured by Japanese companies in Nagoya such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which also makes the central wing box.[30] the horizontal stabilizers are manufactured by Alenia Aeronautica in Italy; and the fuselage sections by Vought in Charleston, South Carolina, (USA), Alenia in Italy, Kawasaki Heavy Industries in JapanSpirit AeroSystems, in Wichita, Kansas, (USA).[31] The subcontractors are all designing with Catia V5.[32] The passenger doors are made by Latécoère (France), and the cargo doors, access doors, and crew escape door are made by Saab (Sweden). Japanese industrial participation is very important to the project, with a 35% work share, and many of the subcontractors supported and funded by the Japanese government.[33] On April 26, 2006, Japanese manufacturer Toray Industries and Boeing announced a production agreement involving $6 billion worth of carbon fiber. The deal is an extension of a contract signed in 2004 between the two companies and eases some concerns that Boeing might have difficulty maintaining its production goals for the 787.[4] On February 6, 2008, TAL Manufacturing Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of the Tata Group (India) announced a deal to deliver floor beams for the 787 from their factory at Mihan, near Nagpur, India to assembly plants in Italy, Japan and the United States.[34][35]
Messier-Dowty (France) builds the landing gear, which includes titanium forged in Russia, and brake parts from Italy[36], and Thales supplies the integrated standby flight display and electrical power conversion system.[4] Honeywell and Rockwell-Collins provide flight control, guidance, and other avionics systems, including standard dual head up guidance systems. Future integration of forward-looking infrared is being considered by Flight Dynamics allowing improved visibility using thermal sensing as part of the HUD system, allowing pilots to "see" through the clouds.[4]
Connecticut (USA)-based Hamilton Sundstrand provides power distribution and management systems for the aircraft, including manufacture and production of Generator Control Units (GCUs) as well as integration of power transfer systems that can move power from the Auxiliary Power UnitAlaska.
The first composite fuselage section rolled out in January 2005, and final external design was set in April 2005. On June 30, 2006, Boeing celebrated the start of major assembly of the first 787 at Fuji Heavy Industries' new factory in Handa, Japan, near Nagoya.[37]
On December 6, 2006, Boeing conducted a "virtual rollout" of the 787. Unlike a traditional rollout (which occurred later), it took place without a physical airframe present. Taking computer aided design beyond the aircraft itself, Boeing modeled the manufacturing process, step-by-step and end-to-end, in software. The virtual rollout is intended to discover production issues prior to assembly of the first airframe, when they are cheaper to fix.[38]
On January 12, 2007, first major assemblies, forward fuselage, center wing, and center wheel well built by FHI and KHI were shipped on 747-400 LCFNagoya, Japan.

[BajtheJino]

Yeah, the tanker was supposed to be built in Mobile, AL at the Downtown Airport (KBFM). Local governments FL to MS were planning on 8-10,000 local jobs created. This is perfect example of back room politics and I'm sure at least one of these politicians will have a job as a Consultant at the end of their career in DC.
Sad.

[Orange Anchor]

Originally Posted by BajtheJino

Yeah, the tanker was supposed to be built in Mobile, AL at the Downtown Airport (KBFM). Local governments FL to MS were planning on 8-10,000 local jobs created. This is perfect example of back room politics and I'm sure at least one of these politicians will have a job as a Consultant at the end of their career in DC.
Sad.

Let's see.. seaport, rail, highways, airport.. hmm.. who'd want to build anything there? Just a bunch of dumb rednecks... right?

If we want to really talk 'back room' antics, we can go back to the first round award and political hacks in line for a cush job, right?

FYI
http://www.alabamaaircraft.com/modification.html
http://www.staero.aero/www/businesss...TAwMDAwMDAwMDI
http://www.staero.aero/www/businesss...TAwMDAwMDAwMDY

And golly.. even Boeing is in Alabama with 2600 employees. Wonder if they even have a Starbucks within 100 miles???

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/...ctionplan.html

[Velocipede]

McCain? Possibly because the EVERY EADS senior management person donated the maximum amount possible to his campaign.

Buying military equipment from a foreign government is the height of folly.

[OldIssue]

NAFTA, CAFTA AND SHAFTA are a reality so get used to it. The US Government has been usurped by a Military/Industrial complex that President Eisenhower tried to warn us about. Perot was right, that sucking sound you hear is American jobs being "outsourced" to other countries. The "One Worlders" have won!

[Timmypig]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

Buying military equipment from a foreign government is the height of folly.

By that logic the US would not sell as much as a single 5.56x45mm NATO rimless round outside its own borders.....

I'd be astounded if there is a single nation that designs, manufactures, supplies and maintains ALL its own military equipment.

[ppragman]

Originally Posted by Timmypig

By that logic the US would not sell as much as a single 5.56x45mm NATO rimless round outside its own borders.....

I'd be astounded if there is a single nation that designs, manufactures, supplies and maintains ALL its own military equipment.

Russia

[BajtheJino]

Originally Posted by ppragman

Russia

True! Thank goodness, too. Where else could I get vacuum tubes for my amp?!

[ppragman]

Originally Posted by BajtheJino

True! Thank goodness, too. Where else could I get vacuum tubes for my amp?!

Funny story, my buddy bought a Romanian guitar and an amp, and the thing wasn't grounded so about every five or six minutes he'd get a finger too close to the pickups and it'd zap the hell out of his hand. It was pretty dammed funny to watch.

[Timmypig]

Originally Posted by ppragman

Russia

D'OH!

(researching Russian military for evidence to the contrary .....)

[Timmypig]

Aero L-39?!?! Czechoslovakian trainer .... but even this one I will concede, as Czechoslovakia was in effect a client state of the USSR.

Beaten! Drats!

OK as I was saying, I would be astounded if there is a single nation APART FROM RUSSIA that designs, manufactures, supplies and maintains ALL its own military equipment.

[ppragman]

Originally Posted by Timmypig

Aero L-39?!?! Czechoslovakian trainer .... but even this one I will concede, as Czechoslovakia was in effect a client state of the USSR.

Beaten! Drats!

OK as I was saying, I would be astounded if there is a single nation APART FROM RUSSIA that designs, manufactures, supplies and maintains ALL its own military equipment.

HAHAHA MUAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH MAAUUUUAAAA