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Questions For Air Force About Airbus Deal

Published 06/05/08 Economy In Crisis - Print Article
E-mail - editor@economyincisis.org

The massive $40 Billion U.S. military contract unfairly awarded to state funded European based Airbus over the more qualified American Boeing raises many questions about the process. Here are several that the Air Force must answer....

Source United Press International:

The U.S. Air Force says it would cost roughly the same amount to develop, manufacture and operate 179 next-generation tankers, regardless of whether they are based on the Boeing 767 or the Airbus A330. But the Airbus plane is 27 percent heavier than the Boeing plane and burns more than a ton more fuel per flight hour. With fuel prices headed for the upper stratosphere, how can both planes cost the same amount to build and operate over their lifetimes?

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The U.S. Air Force says that a computerized simulation of how the competing tankers would function in an actual wartime scenario strongly favored the larger Airbus plane. But the simulation assumed longer runways, stronger asphalt and more parking space than actually exist at forward bases, and failed to consider the consequences of losing bases in wartime. How can such unrealistic assumptions be relevant to the selection of a next-generation tanker?

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