Boeing workers want strike, union postpones

September 5, 2008 by Dagpotter · 1 Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, GAO, Military Aviation, Proposal, Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics, production program 

Update - The machinists started their strike last night. While some work could be done, no aircraft assembly is possible. This will delay the 787 further, and have a negative impact on their bid for the KC-45.

See a The New York Times story here.

The Boeing machinists voted to strike effective Wednesday night, but the leaders of the Union have given Boeing 48 more hours to come to an agreement. The strike will start tonight if no deal is reached. The leadership decision was controversial and not well received by the members who had voted overwhelmingly to strike. Any extended strike, as Sikorsky illustrated in 2006, will be very disruptive to the delivery schedules for all Boeing problems. It is especially key now as Boeing is expected to turn in their new proposal for the KC-45 soon.

See the St Louis Business Journal for some more information.

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India goes with AW for new VIP aircraft

August 29, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Agusta Westland, Contract Awards, India, Military Aviation, Sikorsky, commercial aviation, production program 

Like the US Navy, India awarded a contract to Augusta Westland for their new VIP transport helicopter. The contract is worth about $300 M. Sikorsky was one of the unsuccessful bidders with their S-92 aircraft. The EH-101 selected will offer a larger cabin, although it is a more expensive aircraft. US companies have been trying hard lately to break into the Indian market as that country has turned away from its traditional English and Russian suppliers. India has also made a great effort to begin developing a sophisticated, indigenous arm suppliers.

See The Hartford Courant article about this contract here.

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US Air Force to award CSAR-X recompete soon

August 16, 2008 by Dagpotter · 1 Comment
Filed under: Agusta Westland, Boeing, Contract Awards, GAO, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Proposal, Protest, Sikorsky, U.S. Air Force, UTC, commercial aviation, development program, production program 

In a contract that has fallen to the back burner recently due to KC-45 events, the Air Force announced that they would complete the recompete for the CSAR-X by September. Contract award would be soon after. The CSAR-X contract to replace the HH-60 PaveHawk aircraft was originally awarded to Boeing with a variant of the CH-47. Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin protested and won with the GAO ruling that the Air Force did not apply the selection criteria properly. The whole contract was recompeted with Boeing, Sikorsky and Lockheed resubmitting bids.

For more see this article at www.pressconnects.com for the Binghamton area.

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After debriefs protest to come

March 10, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, GAO, Northrop Grumman Corp., Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics, production program 

According to press reports Boeing will protest the KC-45 award to Northrop-Grumman and EADS. They are supposedly going to the General Accounting Office (GAO), which is the middle level. The lowest is the agency making the decision, here probably Air Force Material Command, and the highest is straight to Federal Court. They can still go to court if they disagree with the GAO decision. If you go to court you will most likely just get some money, not the contract. The GAO if it upholds the protest will most likely direct recompetition. See the CSAR-X for an example of that, which funnily Boeing won but Sikorsky and Augusta Westland won on protests. Northrop Grumman on the other hand put out a press release on why they won.

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