This story has become too quiet! What is going on? Is Northrop doing anything at Brookley, or just waiting for GAO to make a decision? Are our Senators and Representatives doing anything to help the cause?
Budget "earmarks" are considered by many the key gauge of wasteful government spending on pet projects, like Alaska's famous "bridge to nowhere." Seniority has its privileges. Tacoma's Norm Dicks, a 15-term Democrat, ranks sixth among congressmen with the most earmarks, raking in $44 million last year.
The USAF had to post a" stop work order" for Northrupp/EADS until the protest from Boeing is legally addressed. The engineering offices are still @ Brookley. What Boeing is doing is tieing up more tax payer dollars and delaying the start of an important military project. The plane Boeing was going to sell the American tax payer was a 767. It is an old plane that is in its sunset or at the end of its production life. The Boeing 767 has many problems: NO glass (high tech) cockpit; is not permitted to fly further than 3 hours away from land; has no automatic boam; is not setup to fuel three aircraft; is not setup for maximum cargo and passenger transport or evacuation; is not fuel efficient (the Northrupp/EADS plane can fly one thousand more miles than the Boeing 767 without refueling.
The Boeing 767 was replaced by the Boeing 777 some years ago by commercial airlines. In fact the Boeing 777 is being replaced by the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Interesting that the new 787 is 70% outsourced by Boeing to companies in Japan, Italy, United Kingdom and the US (like Renton in Kansas).
Was Boeing arrogant enough to believe the USAF and US citizens would by an inferior product under the premise that Boeing is a US company. Boeing cannot even complete the 787 project and it is anything but an America product.
I usually listen to 710 TalkRadio during my drive home and Michael Savage was on a rant about out-sourcing passports, but he took the opportunity to blast the NG/EADS deal and McCain. There is some very one-sided thinking when it comes to Boeing. None of these people acknowledge the fact that Boeing has been out-sourcing more and more over the years and most of them do not even mention Northrop Grumman. It quickly turns into a flag waving rant about AMERICAN Boeing and France's Airbus.
What can be done to set the record straight about this tanker deal?
The GAO will look at the RFP and make sure the process was fair and equitable. The appropriations committees can still refuse to fund the project regardless of what the GAO decides. That is the bigger problem, because people like Norm Dicks has a lot of influence in those subcommittees.
There is a specific letter on the Capwiz site to support the Nothrop Grumman project. I responded to an email I recieved this am and was able to send the letter to all three of my representatives. To access the site use http://capwiz.com/americasnewtanker/issues/alert/?alertid=11192766
If this does not work for you I have another address, more lengthy. I can send it to WKRG 5 to post for anyone to use.
"The tanker decision was based on an open and transparent process and the best team won. The USAF ranked each bid on five criteria and Northrop Grumman won on four out of the five and tied in one category. Both sides praised the USAF for the fairness of the competition before the award was announced. Both sides agreed that this was the most rigorous acquisition process in the Department of Defense's history."
