It turns out the 767 tanker program is creating jobs after all — for federal investigators.
But there was some good news from the U.S. Air Force about the tanker deal, coming from a top general who told a Congressional panel that — bottom line — the KC-767 remains the only viable option for the U.S. armed forces.
First the bad news. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission now has opened its own probe into the firing of former Boeing Co. chief financial officer Mike Sears and Darleen Druyan, the ex-Pentagon weapons buyer connected to the tanker scandal.
Both Sears and Druyan were fired last year after a company investigation revealed that Sears had offered the government official a job while she was in charge of negotiating terms of the tanker deal.
The SEC will investigate whether Boeing adequately informed investors of the potential conflict of interest, after it uncovered it, Bloomberg News reported.
That investigation is separate from the four Pentagon reviews now under way, which are looking at whether the government got a fair price on the proposed $17 billion lease-purchase deal, and whether the deal was tainted.
Those reports are due out in May. Until then, the tanker deal is on hold, and Boeing has slowed development work on the program, which means 450 Everett employees are getting reassigned, while another 50 could get laid off.
There’s also a review of whether acquiring the 100 new jets is the best option for the Air Force. This "analysis of alternatives" is expected to take 18 months, but from the sounds of things, the Air Force won’t need nearly that long.
And for the good news, Air Force Vice chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that "the plan we’ve got for the 767 is valid" and added that the Boeing tanker is the armed services’ only viable option.
The publication CongressDaily reported that Moseley made the comment in response to questions from committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who said he was getting tired of all the political infighting surrounding the tanker deal.
"We’re going to help you," Hunter told the general, who is the Air Force’s No. 2 officer.
The review, which is called an "analysis of alternatives" in government-speak, will consider whether the Air Force should purchase refueling services from private contractors, which sounds remarkably similar to what the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has proposed doing. It also will take another look at an option the Air Force already has rejected — putting new engines on the old KC-135 tankers now in service.
The president and CEO of Boeing’s defense and space unit, Jim Albaugh, told analysts at a meeting in New York on Tuesday that the company remains optimistic the tanker contract will be reinstated, The Associated Press reported.
"The fact is that there’s an urgent need for tankers," he said.
Aerospace analyst Paul Nisbet of JSA Research agreed.
"If the results from the investigations are relatively benign, nothing really earth-shaking, then I think there’s no question it’s going to go through," he told AP. "It would have to be something pretty nasty and well beyond what we’ve heard so far for that not to happen."
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
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