I’m playing catch-up a bit having taken Friday off after a hectic three days with Boeing (737 upgrades, 787 flight test briefings and tours of the first Dreamliner and Boeing’s Production Integration Center).
Probably the biggest non-787 story last week was that a tanker split-buy is likely off the table. The White House persuaded Rep. John Murtha not to add a Defense spending bill provision forcing the Pentagon to split a $35 billion deal between the Boeing Co. and duo Northrop Grumman and EADS.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates had been against the split all along. This means a winner-take-all competition between Northrop and Boeing.
Defense analyst Loren Thompson wrote this briefing explaining the benefits of a split-buy just days before Murtha gave into White House demands.
If Boeing wins, its KC-767 would be built here in Everett. If Northrop-EADS win, the companies will assemble their KC-30 in Alabama, which is what this op-ed piece in the Press Register supports.
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