So much for restraint by Congress and Boeing
Filed under: Boeing, Business Line, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics
Congress members from the affected states are supposedly upset by the award to EADS, not Boeing. See an article here. The good Senator from Kansas urges Boeing to protest!! That is real leadership on the issue. Read more
No announcement today either on KC-X
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics
5:00 PM EST came and went with no contract announcement yet. I guess we will need to wait until tomorrow. The SeattlePI.com Boeing blog says it now looks like Friday, according to this entry. Governor Gregoire of Washington says that there is a good chance of a protest or Congressional action if Boeing does not win. No pressure there on the Air Force.
No announcement for KC-X today either
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics
The DoD announced their contract awards today. No mention of KC-X yet. I guess we will have to wait and see tomorrow. Here the Saint Louis Business Journal summarizes all that is at stake.
No word on KC-X yet
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics
Bumped - Here is an Agence France Press article on the KC-X DAB and status.
The KC-X Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) was supposed to meet this afternoon. After a successful DAB the Air Force should be able to announce who won the contract. Sometimes it occurs right after the meeting, but it may take a few days. There was no Air Force contracts awarded when the 17:00 EST list came out. So the next chance should be tomorrow evening at the same time.
KC-X Defense Acquistion Board slips to Monday
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics, production program
The DAB for the KC-X is now scheduled for Monday the 25th. Normally the contract announcement will be very soon after that, as the DAB is to review the program and its selected contractor. See MarketWatch.com for more here. Obviously this will be between Boeing and the Northrop Grumman-EADS team. As of now it could be either, although Boeing would seem to be favored based on just domestic industry.
Iowa retiterates desire for Boeing to win the KC-X contract
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics, production program
This article in Quad-Cities Online repeats the story that Iowa has a lot to gain if Boeing wins the KC-X tanker contract. Primarily due to Alcoa being in the state and the demand for aluminum that the contract will required. Read more
Defense Acquistion Board (DAB) to meet on KC-X February 22nd
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, U.S. Air Force, logistics, production program
The DAB for the KC-X will meet on 22 February now. This is a delay from the original plan. See Rueters.com for more. At the DAB the winner of the contract will be discussed, and the USAF will get permission to enter into the contract. EADS and Boeing are the two bidders. Read more
Boeing continues to support KC-10 fleet while waiting on KC-X
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, McDonnell Douglas, U.S. Air Force, logistics
The US Air Force gave Boeing a $307 m contract to continue logistics support for the most modern tankers in their fleet, the KC-10. See the St. Louis Business Journal here for more. Boeing and EADS continue to wait for the US Air Force to come to some decision on the KC-X program. If the Air Force had invested in more KC-10 aircraft in the 80’s, when there certainly was an ability to buy them, there would not be the issues today. The KC-X arose out of the ill-fated plan to lease KC-767 aircraft from Boeing in 2001-2002. This collapsed under ethical issues. Now six years later there is still not a replacement aircraft.
Boeing and USAF attempt to mend ways
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Federal Budget Process, Lockheed Martin, Protest, Sikorsky, U.S. Air Force, production program
In this detailed article from The Washington Post, the relationship between the Air Force and Boeing is examined relative to the Darleen Druyun scandal. The complete article is here. Ms. Druyun was the senior Civil Servant in the Air Force’s acquisition office. She was negotiating for a job with Boeing while representing the Air Force in contract negotiations. That is about the biggest, and simplest, conflict-of-interest a government employee can have. Ms. Druyun’s daughter also some how ended up with a job at Boeing as well. The fall out from the case led Ms. Druyun to go to jail, and Boeing to pay a large fine and make a lot of promises.
The article is discussing two major awards the Air Force will make soon for two new aircraft. The KC-X to supplement the aged KC-135; and a new rescue helicopter - the CSAR-X. Boeing and Druyun got into trouble over an attempt by the Air Force to lease replacement tankers in 2002. Boeing had won the CSAR-X contract with a version of the C-47, but the GAO upheld a protest by Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin, and the contract had to be re-competed.
This article highlights some of the issues inherent in government contracting.
Airbus wins commercial order, looks to America for production
Filed under: Airbus, Alabama, Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., Proposal, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, production program
Leasing company AWAS awarded Airbus a contract for 75 aircraft. In somewhat related story, Airbus is now saying that with a successful win of the KC-X contract with Northrop Grumman they will move civil aircraft production from Europe to Mobile, Al. See a press release on the AWAS award here. For a more complete discussion of the move to Mobile see this article. It benefits Airbus to move to a dollar country, as in Europe they pay Euros to their suppliers and workers, and sell their aircraft in dollars. The recent drop in the dollar is affecting the profit margins on their products. The plant they purchased in Mobile is large enough to do both KC-X production and other aircraft. If they are like they have been with the Eurocopter America plant in Columbus, MS they are also willing to expand as necessary.
Air Force May Delay Awarding Tanker Contract
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., U.S. Air Force
There were multiple reports, on Thursday, that the U.S. Air Force may delay the award of the KC-X tanker contract beyond February. The contract, worth between $40-$100 billion, was originally supposed to have been awarded this year, but it was postponed to February, 2008. Now, it looks like the award will be postponed again. The leading contenders for the contract are Boeing, and a coalition led by Northrop Grumman and EADS. Details on the possible delay can be found in stories at GovExec.com and Reuters.
In related news, EADS is afraid that the continued fall of the dollar versus the euro will make their bid for the tanker contract untenable. EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois has gone so far as to say that the dollar’s continued decline an “existential threat” to the European company. See the Seattle Post Intelligencer for more.





