Comments on: Northrop Grumman, citing unfairness, declines to compete in $40 billion tanker contract

By: The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Tanker Deal Tanks

The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Tanker Deal Tanks — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:00:50 +0000

[...] the Daily Caller, Alex Pappas reports on the fallout of yesterday's announcement that Northrop-Grumman has pulled out of the competition [...]

By: emem

emem — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:26:47 +0000

Hopefully, this means that GSA can be dissolved since POTUS is redefining the rules of government procurement. Although in this case, with Boeing announcing it’s plan to move manufacturing to South Carolina due to irreconcilable differences with the union, wil this ridiculous admin. pull the contract.

By: thephranc

thephranc — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:34:16 +0000

I don’t know either but I do know recently one of them had a production facility decide to get rid of the union.

By: elyriaohio

elyriaohio — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:08:39 +0000

Sounds like Grummin had the chance to redesign smaller but decided to take their ball & go home.

By: awlhattinokaddle

awlhattinokaddle — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:12:14 +0000

scorpidoo….Firstly, your assertion that Bush was never treated so badly is a complete crock. The Vicious and Vile behavior of you Lefties toward Bush and Cheney is exactly why the discourse is so ugly today. We, on the Right, have decided that we are no longer going to turn the other cheek. The best part is that we haven’t even warmed up yet. When IT hits the fan, there are over 50 years of grievances that will be addressed. Which brings me to my second point.
The Race-Card is over, scorpidoo! Dim Wits like you, just don’t know it yet. Unfounded charges of Racism are a Hate Crime and in the near future, these Race Crimes will be aggressively prosecuted under the Hate Crimes Act. You snotty Phucks have had a ‘field day’ for way too long and very soon it will be time for real Reparations.

By: wirelessone

wirelessone — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:18:51 +0000

Well the KC-135s bring back gas now when they fly a mission. Imagine how much more they would have brought back in the Airbus. If the USAF wanted a trash hauler, they could buy something off of the shelf, but then again, they often contract that stuff out. The 767 militarizes well and should do a good job for the war fighter. And trust me, the Government has Boeing by the short hair on this one. Because this is an FFP contract, there is little downside to the Government, but a big downside to the contractor. Although, given EADS performance on the A400M (and the bail out that they just got) I am not sure that they had a winning proposition this time around.

By: scorpioman

scorpioman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:50:57 +0000

awlhattinokaddle has the voice of a racist. Bush was never treated as badly. During the campaign Obama was called so many names, he’s immune to all of them now.

By: inspectorudy

inspectorudy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:28:35 +0000

There is a lot more to this than simple corruption. I was a fighter pilot during the VN war and tankers were critical for our survival. I also flew the Airbus while flying for Pan Am and have experience with long range over water flights with it. I enjoyed the Airbus but always felt like the Boeing planes were more ruggedly built. There were a lot of cutting edge systems on it that were not quite ready for prime time. Besides my own personal opinions there are a few other more recent issues to consider. One is the size of the Airbus over the Boeing. The Bus is much larger and would not be able to use some of the smaller fields that are available in the theater of war. Two is the issue of the Bus being able to carry much more fuel and supplies than the 767. This is also a handicap when the MAC decides to load extra cargo on the refueling plane to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. This takes time and makes the tankers have to do double duty. It also would place an extra requirement for the tanker to be used else where when it might be needed as a tanker. Three is the attitude of the aircraft manufacturers in Europe who when deciding to build their new Airbus 400 military cargo plane declined to use already existing US engines. This was a stupid move and has delayed the project by almost three years. Their reasoning was that they wanted to build Europes knowledge and experience and to keep the project for the European workers. There might be other reasons why they dropped out of the bidding but these are enough for me.

By: davebarnes

davebarnes — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:17:04 +0000

This is pork+protectionism at its worst.
The Administration is irrelevant as this goes much deeper than who is POTUS this week.

By: sandra3dee

sandra3dee — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:12:43 +0000

I get your point, however, when it is now and was being done to President Bush, I thought it wrong. I guess we all have our vices.

By: billbrady

billbrady — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:51:36 +0000

Which company has the biggest union employment? I don’t know. Just asking.

By: awlhattinokaddle

awlhattinokaddle — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:40:17 +0000

3dee !…..Your point is well taken. Your reading of my postings should be brief, as I enjoy sticking it to the Purple Lipped Knuckle Dragger every chance I get. I also enjoy running the Praises of Sarah Palin up the flag pole as often as possible because I like to watch the Libs Eyes Roll Back In Their Ugly Little Heads With Bald Rage. The more Scholarly Websites are ever SOOO Mature.

By: theneighborhoodguy

theneighborhoodguy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:57:48 +0000

…but the message rings loud and clear…BTW…if Awlhat had called him our One and Glorious Leader, or the Chosen One, or His Royal Half and Half…I would still agree…surely we all get that “childish” feeling every once and again…go ahead…admit it…it beats kicking the dog..right?

By: lamecherry

lamecherry — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:22:48 +0000

So Boeing is a major donor to Obama and will filter billions in campaign donations back to Democrats, that seems to be the Obama reasoning for any and all government funds.

For the record, Boeing lost the next generation fighter deal, because it’s planes were ugly, not capable and proved that Boeing is best left to commercial and tanker aircraft……….until now.

It is ludicrous in picking a smaller tanker, because the days of war are going to come when US fighters and bombers will go down, because of long flights and small tankers.
Robert Gates for many reasons should be fired for carrying Obama’s water, and this is one of them. What are pilots going to do? Have fuel rationed to them?

How about the new Obama war plans, “Oh we can get by with 3 jets, instead of 20. Just don’t mind the Russian MIG’s are coming at our pilots with 20.”

Rationed war, sounds like rationed Obamacare rationed death. Same outcome as the medical kickbacks. Great job Boeing in screwing America over for Obama.

By: windrdr

windrdr — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:05:40 +0000

Boeing makes a decent product, but they’re phoning this one in. They phoned in to cheat the process during round one, they phoned in a second place design in round two, then they phoned in and whined till they finally won in round three. In the meantime, we’ve wasted almost 10 years get a production line running to replace the aging KC-135s and KC-10s that have been performing at an operational tempo far above what anyone could have predicted at the beginning of this chicken dance, when they were already seriously in need of being replaced.

Boeings conduct in this entire affair has been outrageous. The punishment they should have received from being caught gaming the system in the first place was to be completely disqualified from consideration.

And please, don’t cry for Boeing being in danger of corporate collapse from losing the KC-X job – they’re civilian production is quite healthy and robust, in addition to the variety of other ongoing mil contracts they have.

The ‘politics’ of this are way too far down in the Pentagon weeds to pin it on Skippy, but I think what we’re seeing is the sacrifice of potentially 48K NEW American jobs (plus the boost in jobs to the surrounding communities) so that a much smaller number of individuals can count on jobs, post separation, with a certain Aircraft Corporation that builds planes out on the Northwest Coast.

Bet on it.

By: starvinmarvin

starvinmarvin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:37:12 +0000

Why would anyone thing something other than coruption would drive this deal? The POTUS has proven time and again that he, his staff, and th Congressional progressives will do ANYTHING destroy our form of government. Why treason is not still an impeachable offense baffles me.

By: sandra3dee

sandra3dee — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:35:25 +0000

Seriously, the name calling is childish and stooping to the level of the libs. Your point is a decent one, but people will discount if after the first 5 words.

By: motionview

motionview — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:16:45 +0000

The fact that our DoD is pulling BS like this while we are fighting multiple wars around the world makes me want to set my hair on fire.

By: thephranc

thephranc — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:14:08 +0000

So much for the best design at the best price and doing whats best for the tax payer.

By: awlhattinokaddle

awlhattinokaddle — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:12:57 +0000

This Nasty Little Kenyan Usurper is going to leave this country defenseless. He has torpedoed every major defense upgrade in the arsenal. Meanwhile the Chinese are building a huge fleet of the most advanced submarines in the world. Hate America First Obama is stripping us militarily, economically and morally.