Tanker Trash Talk: ‘Northrop Grumman beat Boeing like a red-headed rented mule’

Published 11:49 am Thursday, June 18, 2009

Let the insults begin.

As a journalist, some days I just get to sit back and laugh at the outrageous things people say out loud or in writing. (Today, it’s more in drawing.)

Yesterday it was Qatar Airways: ‘Boeing is run by bean counters and lawyers.’

Today, the Mobile Press-Register’s political cartoonist gives us this juicy dig at the Boeing Co. and its prospective KC-777 offering for the U.S. Air Force tanker competition.

Boeing said this week in Paris that it might offer the Air Force a tanker based off its larger 777 commercial jet. This summer, the Air Force is expected to kick off its third attempt to replace its aging KC-135 fleet. The competition once again will pit Boeing versus Northrop Grumman and its partner EADS, who plan to assemble their KC-30 in Mobile.

For the last tanker round, cartoonist JD Crow had taken to calling Boeing’s KC-767 “Frankentanker” since it was a compilation of various 767 models. So, he’s labeled the KC-777 the “Bride of Frankentanker.”

In the last round, the Air Force initially awarded the contract to Northrop, but the Pentagon called the deal off when government auditors found flaws in the competition.

Here’s Crow’s description of what happened:

“In the previous round, Northrop Grumman beat Boeing like a red-headed rented mule. Boeing whined and cried and pulled out its heavy artillery of political puppets to get the bid appealed and ultimately suspended.”

Boeing, or some cartoonist in the Northwest, is going to have to get busy and sketch out a response. So far, I think the closest humorous take on the tanker (in Boeing’s favor) is this Naked Loon story from last year.