Having worked for Boeing/McDonnell Douglas for many years and over 10,000 hours
flying Boeing/McDonnell Douglas aircraft (KC-135 and KC-10), I can tell you
that Boeing/McDonnell Douglas has always gone into government contract bids
with a very arrogant attitude. They have always had the attitude "we" are the
best and if you want us you are going to pay. Having worked Boeing contract
bids I also know that Boeing will not submit a bid unless they can make a
minimum of 30% profit, it's not worth their time to bid anything less.
In case most you don't know, Boeing was awarded this contract a couple of years
ago. It consisted of the USAF "Leasing" Boeing 767s for tankers. Since the
airplanes were leased Boeing made them put into the lease contract that all
modifications and maintenance must be done by Boeing. Those airplanes were
going to cost the Air Force approx. 3 times the cost of buying them outright.
Anyway a couple of Senators threw up the "Stop" flag and investigated the
procurment deal (Senator McCain was leading the charge). When the dust settled
3 Pentagon procurment personnel were put in jail, along with a lady from Boeing
that recently quit the government procurment office and went to work for Boeing
(sound fishy?), the president/CEO for Boeing (Paul Condit) resigned along with
a few other top Boeing exectives.
The majority of Boeing's aircraft manufacturing is subcontracted to foreign
companies and so is a lot of the assembly. It's in the new contract that all
the Airbus aircraft for this contract will be assembled in Mobile, AL.
Don't get me wrong I like Boeing aircraft, they saved my butt a few times but I
hope this will cause them to wakeup and realize they aren't the only manufactor
with a good product.
Herb
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