KC-X part 3

[ScottM]

Well we all remember Boeing got the contract then lost it. Then Northrup/EADS got the contract and now they lost it.

Looks like part 3 is to re-bid the entire thing again. What a waste of time and money.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=9c397060-3fc1-42a1-ab70-53a283ddaf36&

Here we go again. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday the US Air Force will once again reopen bidding on a stalled multibillion-dollar contract to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 aerial tankers with modern aircraft.

​

The decision adds a new, sad chapter to a tortured story that started over five years ago, when the Air Force pulled its original contract award to Boeing after it became known one Pentagon official in charge of the procurement process, Darleen Druyun, hopped the fence to go to work at Boeing even as the final "i's" were being dotted on the deal to give the contract to the planemaker's KC-767.
As ANN reported last month, the Government Accountability Office -- acting on a protest filed by Boeing, upon losing the previous KC-X contract bid in February to a partnership between Northrop Grumman and European aerospace consortium EADS -- determined the Air Force took its level of bungling to new heights in awarding an initial $40 billion contract to a plane based on the Airbus A330-200.
Specifically, the GAO said the Air Force selection process was "undermined by a number of prejudicial errors that call into question the Air Force's decision" to give the contract to Northrop/EADS.

 

[Steve]

Regardless of the outcome, someone isn't going to be happy.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080709/BIZ/80709018

On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, where Boeing has a major facility, introduced a Senate resolution calling on the Pentagon to rebid the flawed contract.Other lawmakers threatened to hold up funding for the new tankers unless Boeing was given a second chance.

Mississippi officials had hoped Northrop Grumman would build the tanker near Stennis Space Center. The defense contractor has a large presence in Pascagoula, where it builds ships for the Navy and Coast Guard.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said last month that "The Air Force should and will buy the tanker that is the best deal for our military and for American taxpayers. ... Clearly, that is the Northrop Grumman- EADS KC-45."

 

[Tim]

The best deal for the nation would be to start building the KC-135 again.

 

[KennyFlys]

There's complaining about outsourcing everything so they want to give EADS a shot at it? Yep, that makes sense.

 

[Teller1900]

Regardless of the outcome, someone isn't going to be happy.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080709/BIZ/80709018

On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, where Boeing has a major facility, introduced a Senate resolution calling on the Pentagon to rebid the flawed contract.Other lawmakers threatened to hold up funding for the new tankers unless Boeing was given a second chance.

Mississippi officials had hoped Northrop Grumman would build the tanker near Stennis Space Center. The defense contractor has a large presence in Pascagoula, where it builds ships for the Navy and Coast Guard.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said last month that "The Air Force should and will buy the tanker that is the best deal for our military and for American taxpayers. ... Clearly, that is the Northrop Grumman- EADS KC-45."

WAIT...you mean the selection process is political?!? Say it ain't so!

 

[ScottM]

WAIT...you mean the selection process is political?!? Say it ain't so!

Shocked I am that gambling is occurring in the establishment!!

There is even more that may have some presidential fall out

In one case, USAF officials reportedly told Boeing it had met a set of objectives... but later said it had not, after discussions had already closed. Conversely, the Air Force told Northrop about areas its bid had fallen short on, then gave the company time to alter its proposal.


Those revelations cast doubt on the fairness of the Air Force's bidding process, and fed rumors of possible political pressure to hand the contract to the European team. That may bode ill for current Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee led the charge to pull the tanker contract from Boeing after the Druyun scandal came to light.

Guilt by association? I don't know

 

[wanttaja]

The best deal for the nation would be to start building the KC-135 again.

My guess is the jigs no longer exist. None of the drawings are in electronic form... so Boeing would have to either redesign the aircraft or retool the factories to eliminate all the advances in manufacturing engineering made in the past 20 years. In effect, they'd be starting from scratch.

Ron Wanttaja

 

[Tim]

Maybe but what would you have in spares, save in training and facilities and the list goes on of the things they never talk about. The point is to ask the the questions and compare the costs and the results of sticking with the design.

 

[Steve]

Capacity/performance/maintability. The reasons they are upgrading. Fewer larger planes to maintain and operate. Fewer crewmen to train. Fewer maintenance facilities to support. yadda yadda yadda

Both designs are based on existing airframes/engines. Very little retooling required.

Maybe but what would you have in spares, save in training and facilities and the list goes on of the things they never talk about. The point is to ask the the questions and compare the costs and the results of sticking with the design.