Fri, Jul 11, 2008
Fears Pentagon Will Be Wooed By Larger KC-45A
The International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) called on Secretary of
Defense Robert M. Gates Friday to ensure the new round of bidding
for the Air Force refueling tanker contract does not include any
residual bias from the initial competition, which contained
significant errors and was heavily skewed toward the Airbus
tanker.
"We are calling for aggressive oversight of the bidding process
to make sure Boeing's tanker is evaluated on a fair, level playing
field," said IAM General Vice President Rich Michalski. "We will
not accept, nor should American taxpayers accept a process or an
outcome that is only slightly less rigged than the initial round of
bidding."
Fresh concerns erupted following
Wednesday's announcement the Pentagon will once again put
the contract for the Air Force's next tanker up for
rebid. The union fears the Department of Defense might
once again use the increased fuel capacity and other criteria to
favor the Airbus-sourced KC-45A over Boeing's smaller KC-767, which
better matches the original selection criteria of the KC-X bid to
replace the Air Force's aging fleet of aerial refueling
tankers.
The new competition will be limited to eight areas of concern
highlighted in a scathing critique of the Air Force decision to
award the $40 billion contract to EADS-Airbus, a European
consortium fronted by Los Angeles, CA,-based Northrop Grumman
Corp.
"I am concerned that the department is trying to find a new way
to justify selecting the larger Airbus tanker again, even though
there is no current operational requirement for a larger refueling
tanker," said Washington state Rep. Norm Dicks, who learned that
the criteria for the new tanker will favor a larger tanker than was
initially requested.
Dicks also noted that the Airbus is 53 percent larger than the
Boeing 767, requiring greater maintenance and operations costs. He
noted that the Boeing KC-767 could save $35 billion in fuel costs
over 40 years -- an amount large enough to equal the purchase of
the entire fleet.
The IAM represents nearly 35,000 Boeing employees in Washington
state, Oregon, Kansas and other locations across the country.
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