Obama admin considers delaying tanker, canceling bomber, report says
Not good news for Boeing. Congressional Quarterly is reporting that the Obama administration is considering the possibility of delaying the aerial refueling tanker contract by five years and canceling the Air Force’s plan for a long-range bomber.
Citing anonymous sources, CQ Politics says:
No final decisions have been made, and the recommendations are part of negotiations between the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department over possible budget trade-offs this year, the sources said. The guidance represents two of the offset options that OMB gave the Pentagon last month regarding the fiscal 2010 Defense budget request.
If the guidance survives the internal budget process, a huge protest will follow on Capitol Hill, where dozens of lawmakers are heavily invested in the battle over tanker procurement, which has raged for years.
So it looks like Boeing and Northrop Grumman/European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. will have to wait a bit longer before they can duke it out again over the $35 billion bid to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. After first announcing a win for Northrop Grumman/EADS in February 2008, the Defense Department later canceled the award after questions were raised about the fairness of the bidding process, punting the competition to the Obama administration.
The Obama administration’s guidance also considers terminating plans for a long-range bomber, according to CQ Online. Last year, Boeing and rival Lockheed Martin announced they joined forces to jointly develop a new bomber that would be capable of delivering nukes and replacing the aging B-1 and B-52 fleets; the new bomber would available by 2018.
Though not much info is available on the proposed bomber (called the 2018 Bomber for now), an artist rendering is available on a Boeing website.
For more on Congressional Quarterly’s story, go to CQ Politics.
A Democrat cutting back on military spending? What a shock. And, of course, it’s the manufacturing jobs that won’t happen as a result of it…but those unions keep voting for the Dems anyway…LOL
But at least we allcoated 50 million to protect that endangered mouse in Feinstein’s district out in CA…
Tim, how right you are! Isn’t it amazing the people who vote election year after election year for the party that has single-handedly seen that we destroy as many jobs as possible with our allegiance to Mother Earth (as if HE needs any help from us, what a joke!).
Well, you’ve got Big Oil…Big Pharma…Big Business…Big Tobacco…glad we’ve shut all those horrible industries down.
Now if we could just put a rein on BIG GOVERNMENT & BIG EDUCATION and Big Lawsuits. Oh, but wait, they’re neutral…they just want what’s best for us.
Let’s shut the entire military down, you know, the world got what it has been yearning for, the great One. Maybe we can all just join hands with the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Kim Jong North Korena, our friends over in Iran and Hugo Chavez and all sing the famous Coke song. I’m so glad we live in a post-war world. I feel all warm and snuggly with our new commander in charge. Glad their priorities are aimed squarely at putting our country at risk.
stimulus at work
The air refueling tankers remain a top priority of the Air Force and when a decision is finally made Mobile County, Ala., will be where the tankers are built by Northrop Grumman/EADS. This project is just too important and it will benefit the entire Gulf Coast-Alabama, Mississippi, Florida. Check out GulfCoastAerospaceandDefense.com to learn more about the A&D assets in Northwest Florida alone.
Thanks for the commercial DL, now go back to the south. Boeing is quite capable of building it right here in St Louis, and that is where it should be built.
The latest from “El presidente,all mighty Supreme dictator,Obammy”.Cancel any and all spending on our nations defence,but continue to pour good money after bad to the lousy SOB,s in the financial sector.Yep,sounds fair to me. NOT
obama administration’s guidance? I see them guiding us into the path of self destruction! God help us!
Tim,
One problem,
Boeing wouldn’t build the tanker in St. Louis, nor would it create many new jobs.
While the Northrop/EADS project would have the airframe come from Europe, just as many of the Boeing parts are foreign.
It all comes down to functionality and cost, which apparently favors Northrop/EADS, as Boeing is trying to force their ancient 767. Come on, Boeing, quit playing games with taxpayer money and bring something worthwhile to the table and maybe you won’t lose these contracts.