Tax day tanker talk

Published 12:33 pm Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Boeing Co. and its supporters have seized upon Tax Day to push their tanker agenda.

This morning, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., again questioned the U.S. Air Force’s decision to award a multi-billion dollar aerial refueling tanker contract to Northrop Grumman and EADS.

“While American taxpayers wait for their stimulus checks, the Administration is sending $40 billion of their hard-earned money overseas to design and build a plane for the American military. There is simply nothing fiscally responsible about that,” Murray said, according to a press release.

Also in a release today, Boeing argues that its KC-767 tanker “would save billions of dollars over the anticipated lifetime of the aircraft compared with the larger Airbus-based KC-30.”

The Chicago-based company drew support from Kansas lawmaker Sen. Sam Brownback. Workers in Wichita would have done finishing work on Boeing’s KC-767 tanker.

“As Americans pay their taxes this week, it’s essential that they consider how effectively those dollars will be spent to equip U.S.

warfighters,” Brownback said, in the Boeing release. “It’s especially important to think about the total cost of developing, producing, operating and maintaining vital defense assets that must be ready to fly at least two generations of American military men and women.”

Local analyst Scott Hamilton, with Leeham Co., discussed Boeing’s aggressive public relations campaign over the tanker in his biweekly commentary. Hamilton details a few theories on Boeing’s hard push, including the thought that Boeing could be trying to preempt a labor strike later this year.