March 12, 2008 @ 5:33 am
· Filed under Airbus, Boeing, Contract Awards, U.S. Air Force
In an article in the Asia Times Online, Julian Delasantellis argues that Boeing lost the KC-45 tanker contract, because the Bush administration’s foreign policy requires the ability to bomb far-away countries at any time:
What if, stripped of all the flowery rhetoric you deliver once a year at the United Nations, the essence of your foreign policy is simply a never-ending search for new countries to bomb?
You need a way to get the benefits of land-based aircraft for power projection, without the drawbacks of needing to find friendly countries willing to host your local airfields.
In short, you need really good airborne refueling tankers - the coaling stations of the modern age.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tagged with: airfields, asia times, axis of evil, Boeing, bomber flight, bush administration, cargo capacity, coaling stations, contender, EADS, flight distances, foreign policy, good stuff, grumman, northrup grumman, power projection, rhetoric, seattle post, tankers
February 21, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
· Filed under Airbus, Boeing, EADS, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Proposal, Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics, production program
In this press release, Northrop Grumman and EADS make it clear they are ready to fight for the KC-X contract. It states simply that the KC-30 meets or exceeds all of the Key Performance Parameters (KPP) contained in the requirements document for this platform. Read the rest of this entry »
Tagged with: jcids, jroc, key performance parameters, requirements documents
January 12, 2008 @ 6:20 am
· 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.
Tagged with: KC-X
