Soooo can we just buy the freakin' thing already? Something is better than nothing at this point.
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Boeing Tanker: Beans, Bullets, Oil, and politics .. and did we mention: politics ??
- Thread starter Morgan81
- Start date
Soooo can we just buy the freakin' thing already? Something is better than nothing at this point.
Nope, boeing will still have to compete against itself for the contract. Boeing will lose the contract by submitting an underperforming, over budget reinvention of the wheel. We will continue to fly 50 year old aircraft.
Some of us do. . .and will for a while longer, waiting on Boeing to turn out the replacements. . .
Link: BOEING ... NOW ALONE IN TANKER BIDDING ... MUST FIGURE THE 'RIGHT PRICE'
Whatever it turns out to be .... at least it won't be paid in Euro's ...
On the other hand, on the other side of the Atlantic -- the Times of London online sez:
Link: Don't turn the air race into trade war, Mandelson tells Obama
Link: Don't turn the air race into trade war, Mandelson tells Obama
While there may be some significant differences between the "heavies", if you enjoy flying, the 737 is the choice. If you like creature comforts while monitoring computers – that sometimes 'think' differently, albeit "mostly" correctly with many backups - the comparable Airbus is the choice... from having many and equal hours in both. And I enjoyed both, FWIW, but for very different reasons.
Of course putting our beleaguered aerospace workers to work, rather than foreign workers is no small thing either.
Boeing Tanker Protest: Reading the Entrails...
WSJ on the sordid process:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704784904575111660793465780.html
WSJ on the sordid process:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704784904575111660793465780.html
I really don't care who builds our planes. I just want the best aircraft for the best price.
Boeing is hardly without sin in all this. If it hadn't tried to screw the government with a ripoff lease deal, then the backlash wouldn't have existed to reopen the proposals.
EADS had a better product during the next round--from what I've read it exceeded the key performance parameters on many of the items, whereas Boeing's proposal just barely met them. Boeing's gripe, from what I understand, was that it never understood that there would be credit given for going above the original specification, and not just meeting them.
So, Congress made the Air Force try again, and now EADS doesn't want to play on a field that favors Boeing.
Jobs would be created in the US either way. Just like when one buys a Japanese car nowadays, a big part of the plane would still have been made in the US if EADS had gotten it.
A competition with only one company is not really a competition.
Boeing is hardly without sin in all this. If it hadn't tried to screw the government with a ripoff lease deal, then the backlash wouldn't have existed to reopen the proposals.
EADS had a better product during the next round--from what I've read it exceeded the key performance parameters on many of the items, whereas Boeing's proposal just barely met them. Boeing's gripe, from what I understand, was that it never understood that there would be credit given for going above the original specification, and not just meeting them.
So, Congress made the Air Force try again, and now EADS doesn't want to play on a field that favors Boeing.
Jobs would be created in the US either way. Just like when one buys a Japanese car nowadays, a big part of the plane would still have been made in the US if EADS had gotten it.
A competition with only one company is not really a competition.
Both companies submitted bids using airframes that are fairly old, 767 (1981) and A330 (1992). The Airbus in this case is just "newer".... the 767 production line has been down for awhile IIRC. Of course each had major modifications and updates. But it is just sad that this whole process turned into what it has...
I see it as: the RFP favored a smaller tanker, because that is what the AF / Pentagon asked for. They asked for a dump truck the size of a F-150 and EADS proposed a Caterpillar because that's the only product that they have. Yeah, the RFP favored Boeing because they're the only ones that have the product the AF wants. The Airbust may have more capability and is better, which would be nice but it isn't able to compete with the stipulation that prices must be within 1% of each other.
They have no place to complain (the way I see it).
They have no place to complain (the way I see it).
They proposed it and congress talked about it and finally killed it. That hardly makes Boeing evil for wanting to make money. It is the American way.
Uhhhhh ... negative: the most recent B767 delivery took place 02-26-2010.
Boeing has had mild success with its -300 freighters and it's kept the line open and used the airframe as a 'sop' to keep uphappy customers relatively 'happy' with the endless delays in the 787 program. Strangely enough, the apparent demise of the B787-3 is probably the best thing to happen to the B767 in recent years as the airplane CAN still profitably fit into a niche market.
Check it out for further info:
2-year old information: Boeing to boost production of 767
Flightmemory.com - Boeing 767
Analyst: Lower cost Boing 767 could fill niche of 787-3
Will a lean 767 line mean new life for this airplane?
Oh, yeah ... and then there's that USAF tanker thing-y, too ....
Ditto -- my last checkout was on 'da BUS as I wanted to go back to Motherland-Mainland to close it out. But when I got a 'feel' for 'da BUS and some of the weenies I'd have to deal with while flyin' it ... opportunity knocked and I was able to stay on the WHALE.
The WHALE or 'da BUS (330) ... when it comes right down to where the tire tread meets the runway ... the choice was easy. It's like: do you want to play with the 'big boys' or with a bunch of whiny little girls ... ??
HOWEVER ... I still occasionally get company stuff for 'da BUS. Do you think they're tryin' to tell me something ... ???