10 July 2008

Tanker Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

So the USAF has been forced to re-open the bidding on the Tanker contract.

Bravo for the GAO for finding the errors. For those of you who believe in dark conspiracies - consider the following:

The US had to look like they were offering an opening to the international market for US military contracts. Now that they did award one contract (the Tanker to NG and EADS) they can go back to business as usual and give the real contract to Boeing.

No harm done? Not really - NG will be bent out of shape and the European will cry fowl. Too bad about Alabama.

The decision of course wont happen now until 2009 by which time there will be a new guy in the White House and occupying the DoD Secretary's chair.

So who cares?

We shall see.

1 comment:

John S said...

Remanding the tanker decision was big news here in Connecticut, as Pratt & Whitney is the engine supplier for the Boeing tanker. Sending the engine business overseas is a big deal in Connecticut, which is home of GE and UTC.

There will continue to be a lot of pressure to return the contract award to Boeing. Despite the multiple multinational engine consortia, US domestic leadership continues to be a major driver.

Ultimately, its all about the US having control, which is related to the foreign-ownership debate that plagues EU-US negotiations.

This is not going away quickly.