UPDATE: Boeing is loser on Air Force tanker contract
The Air Force confirmed that Boeing did lose out on the aerial refueling contract. Read more by clicking here.
EARLIER STORY:
While the Air Force will officially award its $40 billion aerial refueling tanker contract later this afternoon, it appears that the team of Northrop Grumman and EADS beat out Boeing for the hotly-contested contract.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting the news on its website, citing “a person familiar with the situation.” Defense analyst Loren Thompson, noted for his close ties to the Pentagon, said he’d been told of the Northrop/EADS win as well.
The Northrop/EADS proposal beat Boeing’s on four out of five selection criteria, according to Thompson, mainly because its plane, a converted Airbus A330, could carry more fuel and cargo than Boeing’s proposed 767.
More details to follow.
OUR EARLIER STORY
The Air Force has scheduled a news conference at 4 p.m. central time today to announce the winner of its $40 billion aerial refueling tanker contract.
The news will cap a week of waiting for the coveted deal, one of the biggest military plane purchases of the decade. Late Thursday, the Pentagon says, its top arms buyer, John Young, signed a key document awarding the contract to either Boeing or the team of EADS and Northrop Grumman. This afternoon it will brief key lawmakers and the companies before making the award public.
Boeing, Northrop and EADS, along with much of the defense aerospace industry, have been awaiting the decision since Monday, when a key Pentagon committee met to decide the contract. Their decision has been kept under tight wraps while procurement officials dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s on one of the biggest Air Force purchases of the decade.
But as the wait has dragged on, word has trickled out that the Air Force recently changed one of the criteria it’s using to assess the bids, a move defense analysts believe could benefit Boeing. That change could be the basis for a protest of decision if Northrop and EADS lose, Reuters reports.
Check back after 4 central for news on the winner, and read full coverage in Saturday’s Post-Dispatch.
I doubt that the USAF actually changed the criteria for the evaluation. They know that doing that would make an appeal of the decision certain, and they’d just have to start the bids over again.
I’ll bet that the contract award documents merely include additional factors to further strengthen their decision which was only decided based on the 9 points of criteria, and those additional factors are just documenting things they can use when politicians or constituents whine about not getting a huge economic boost to their districts.
For example, if people complain that the KC-30 would be better because of those $billions saved by not wearing out the C-17s, the USAF can refer to the document and explain that more money will be saved by not having to strengthen tarmacs or modify hangars for the bigger KC-30s. Or, if Northrop wins, then they can explain the larger benefit of the KC-30s larger capacity outweighs the now-documented cost of improvements to the air bases.
The USAF knows it has to be rock-solid in this decision.
If this administration allows Airbus (a foreign aircraft manufacturer) to enjoy the financial/technological windfall resulting from this decision and subsequent program related developments, which will no doubt also benefit the world Airforce players, then they should be held personally accountable to the thousands of aerospace workers who make up the few last vestiges of any core-competancy that the US economy/workforce/intellectual pool still has, when they are laid off or downsized out of jobs sorely needed at home…by forfeiting their own cushy government jobs.
I will happily forfeit my “stimulus rebate” in order to help purchase as much of a “cutting edge, technologically advanced, masterpiece of American aerospace art, as good as or better than anything else in the world for decades”, Boeing built tanker as possible. Anybody with me?
MONTGOMERY – Governor Bob Riley released the following statement on Friday:
“There are only two places in the world where large airplanes are built: Seattle, Washington and Toulouse, France. Now, there will be a third: Mobile, Alabama.
“To say this is a great day for Alabama is a monumental understatement. This will go down in history as one of our greatest days.
“This announcement is the fulfillment of a dream that began three years ago, and that dream was to bring high-paying aerospace jobs to Mobile. It was a dream to provide the men and women of our military with the best and most efficient aerial refueling tanker. Those dreams are being fulfilled and they will be made a reality in our state.
“The selection of Northrop Grumman-EADS is the result of extremely hard work by a unified team from the company, the state, the federal government and Mobile. I congratulate everyone involved and thank them for all they’ve done.”
Tom, according to an article in the latest issue of foreclosures.com newletter, your “rebate” will become due on next year’s tax return. A fact Georgie does not speak of in the great shell game that he is playing on american citizens. I think the choice of NG has nothing to do with product quality, or even double dipping brass star lobbyists dining on defense company cash. It may have to do with the fact that wall street money boyz sold a lot of bad paper to foreign investors and they are grumbling about it and walking in with lawyers. Maybe a compromise to slow any lawsuits? Ah, Georgie et al and their sins of omission…mission accomplished…LMAOROTF YET SOME STILL BELIEVE…do they put teeth under pillows too?
Wah Wah Wah
Boeing lost because they initially cheated, got caught and then lost the contract. They bribed, lied and tried to cheat the US tax payer out of billions of dollars. Boeing tried to sell an old relic, the 767, that commercial airlines refused to buy any more and It can not compete against the A330. I hope this fraud of a company pays for their criminal behavior. The funny thing is that they are accusing the USAF of not being fair, what a load of hiprocracy.
I dont understand what the Big deal is. I live In Denmark (EU) and our airforce currently use F16 and C130 because they gave the best product for the job at hand.
Mits, I think you should do a little more research before you start bashing a company for being corrupt….the big shot Air Force official started the entire “corruption” process. She was given the responsibility of putting tax payers hard earned money to good use, but instead she used her power to find great paying jobs for her family and herself. She was pushing contracts to Beoing before the original tanker contract was awarded to Boeing. Granted, Boeing’s actions to accommodate the great Darleen were wrong, but they weren’t the only player in that game.
Richard, where is your american loyalty??? Have you not read the hundreds of articles that state the majority of the jobs will be in France, etc??? I assume you must like the idea of supporting a foreign company. You must support the billions of dollars that are spent to help rebuild a country that is currently in a budget surplus due to the excessive amount of money they make from oil. We must be sure the thank the Pres for that one.
I don’t understand why Americans are supporting a decision to fund a foreign company that will not benefit Americans. Boeing has stood the test of time, they already have the facilities and the knowledge of building tankers. EADS has to start from scratch, they don’t have a plant to accommodate the making of the tanker. They don’t even have the experience of building tankers.
I hope the GAO has more sense than the Air Force and gives the necessary guidance to have this deal overturned. And just an FYI - it’s not only Boeing that will be affected by the possible loss of jobs. There are several of us (yes myself included) that work the for DOD and our jobs depend on defense contractors like Boeing and Lockheed. If our governement decides to support foreign defense companies then the thousands of people who audit and administer contracts to defense contractors are in danger of losing their jobs as well. It’s not just the big bad companies that will feel the affects of this decision.
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yes, I can concur….
Online Banking Journals…
Interesting - because that is the same thing I found out last Thursday….
Horoscopes Dot Com…
A Trackback is one of three types of Linkbacks, methods for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents…..
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medication…
pharmacy…