Fresh Questions Raised About Boeing Lease

[Nottingham]

Fresh Questions Raised About Boeing Lease
Sat August 30, 2003 05:15 PM ET
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dozens of e-mail exchanges among Boeing Co BA.N ., the Air Force and the Pentagon released on Saturday raised fresh questions about a controversial $22.5 billion deal to lease, then buy 100 Boeing 767 tankers.

The documents were among over 8,000 provided to the Senate Commerce Committee as it investigated a deal its chairman, Sen. John McCain describes as a "military-industrial rip-off" and a government bailout of Boeing, whose commercial aircraft sales slumped after the September 2001 hijack attacks.

The documents contain no "smoking guns," congressional sources say, but they show a close relationship between Boeing and Air Force officials, including Air Force Secretary James Roche, as well as details of a rival bid by Airbus SA.

For instance, on Feb. 19, 2002, Gerald Daniels, then head of Boeing's military aircraft and missile systems, told Chairman Phil Condit he had "excellent discussions" with Roche and his chief of staff, Gen. John Jumper a week earlier

more...
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=e1e2dc8d0ae8a20e

Interesting deals being made!

[bluedeminredstate]

1. From the Washington Post...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/20030831/tc_washpost/a5378_2003aug30

"The documents also illustrate the integral role that Darlene Druyun, now a senior Boeing executive, played in formulating the lease deal while she was the Air Force's principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and management. In one exchange Boeing officials questioned how a change in the lease terms could provide Druyun "political cover. She apparently understands that this may not be the best business case."

Committee investigators want to know whether Druyun improperly told Boeing that its competitor, Europe's Airbus Industrie, had submitted a bid of $5 million to $17 million lower per plane. An April 2002 e-mail exchange between two Boeing officials, which said Druyun had given the information to Boeing, was turned over to the Defense Department inspector general's office, a congressional source said.

more...

[Nottingham]

2. Oh How the Stomach Turns!

Record deficits and we have this stuff going on! :bounce:

[laconicsax]

3. The US government doesn't give a crap

about bailing out Boeing.

What does Boeing make that the military uses?
KC-135 tanker (the tanker in question)
AH-64 apache helicopter--which the army wants to replace with teh RAH-66 Comanche (not made by Boeing)
F-15--Air Force wants to replace it with the Lockheed F-22.
F/A-18--Navy, Marines want to replace it with the JSF, which Lockheed will build.

The military has a love affair with Lockheed-Martin. The Pentagon kept ordering C-130s year after year even though the Air Force said that they didn't need or want more than they had. Lockheed has won the 2 latest bids for new fighters: The F-22 and the JSF. They beat McDonnell Douglas' YF-23 and Boeing's JSF.

When I looked at the specfications and performance of the Douglas and Boeing entries for the YF-23 and JSF respectively and compared them with the Lockheed entries, I saw Lockheed developing slower, heavier, less manuverable aircraft with higher radar profiles.

My prediction: Within 10 years, Boeing won't have any major military contracts.