Rep. John Murtha visited the Boeing Co.’s Everett factory today.(Read my initial story).
The chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, Murtha, like many Americans, clearly is growing tired of the Air Force tanker procurement process. As he noted, the tanker bid has taken 8 to 9 years already and the Air Force is no closer to having a tanker.
Murtha found the last go-round between the Boeing Co. and duo Northrop Grumman and EADS “baffling.’
“I’m not sure why (Boeing) lost the last contract,” Murtha said.
But Murtha has seen too many protests of defense aircraft contracts. And he knows that the Air Force is still years away from getting even the first of hundreds of replacement tankers. With the Obama administration fixing its eyes on Afghanistan, Murtha wants to find funding for two tankers to be built monthly, likely from different jet makers.
Reps. Norm Dicks and Rick Larsen also were on hand Monday.
A couple key quotes from the Congressmen from Washington:
“I was basically shocked and in awe of the Air Force’s decision to award this to Airbus,” Larsen said, of the competition that eventually was called off last year.
“I don’t see how we could go build them in France … when we’ve got workers here,” Dicks said.
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