Says Putin Was Trying To Increase Market Share For The Sukhoi Superjet

Aero-News April 1 Special Edition

President Donald Trump blasted Russin President Vladimir Putin in a Tweet April 1 accusing Putin of coordinating a hacking attack on Boeing’s 737 MAX MCAS software.

“We have evidence showing that Russian trolls managed to hack the MAX software in an effort to disrupt the U.S. aviation manufacturing industry. Bad … very bad … worse than you could ever imagine,” Trump said in the Tweet.

A state department official not authorized to speak to the media said that it was becoming clear that Russia knew that its Sukhoi Superjet would never be able to compete with the latest airplane from Boeing, and put forth a coordinated effort to slow its market penetration. “We don’t believe they intended to cause any fatalities, but we do see evidence that they were able to infiltrate the software to make it unstable. We’re still tracing the IP addresses, and the hack seemed to come through servers in Ukraine.”

President Putin flatly denied the accusation. “Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” he said in a Tweet.

CNN reported that Trump actually collaborated with Putin on the hack, and called again for his impeachment. A headline from the network said “Trump, Putin Sabotaged The 737 MAX!”

It was not clear how the alleged hack occurred, but the state department official said the agency suspects that Russia planted a mole with the company’s division that created the software.

An investigation into the accusation is ongoing.

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov