I thought not. So much for “or is free trade a one way street these days?”

The first 767 entered service in Sept. 8, 1982, since then 767 have flown more than 7.7 million flights, and carried millions of passengers.

A330 entered service about a decade later (1993?).

yet this cute commentary exaggerates the difference through artistic use of language. The difference is about 10 years, not nearly so important as it’s made out to be.

To Mags: Look at how happy the Japanese and Italian air force are with Boeing, years late and with serious teething trouble to the point that the Italians almost canceled the deal. The 787 Dreamliner is massively delayed - 30 months at this stage, so I’m unclear what point you are trying to make?
The selection of the Airbus will bizarrely create far more jobs in the US then the Boeing option would. In any case Boeing would have outsourced plenty of the components of the tanker to other countries much like the 787 will be whenever it gets delivered.
Maybe the Europeans should ban Boeing from any of its contracts? or is free trade a one way street these days?

I am confused too about the USAF selection on the Tanker .

They set out with the Specification Requirement to replace the aging KC-135 fleet. KC-135 is a mid size airplane .The USAF Calls its a KC-X replacement.

Than the next is the KC-Z replacemnet to replace the Tanker with KC-10 (DC-10) Size.

In the end, because of John McCain and his associates pressured the USAF to change the Spec requirement for KC-X to have Air Bus on board.

The A330-200 has a bigger size than KC-10 or the KC-Z program that the USAF wants to change later

So, it makes sense to replace with a model like Boeing 767-200 to conform to KC-X a Mid size Tanker replacement that is smaller than KC-10 size .

Now the USAF ended up selected the A330-200 as Tanker or KC-45 that is not a Size, the KC-X program reuired the bidder to submit the proposal to replace the KC-135 Size Tanker

I would prefer to write to my Senators and Congress to clarify this for me too .

Boeing will survive. They have an order book for 787’s alone that will take years and years to build not to mention 737’s and 747’s even. They are also partnered with Lockheed Martin on the F22 and the FA-35.

I still hate the French though. Just want to make that clear…

Eric

The water is so muddy with what happened before this whole thing started that a blanket statement like “is an outrage and insult to all Americans” dodges the main point since the corruption of the bid process is actually the real “dis” … so long as we are talking trash talk here.

Yes, Boeing and some of our elected officials went doo doo on the flag by subverting the process.. but hey.. it was for Boeing’s benefit… so it was, at a bare minimum, patriotic doo doo, no?

But, the larger question, “What’s fair you ask?” I’d like to see Bombardier get a crack at the tanker.. and I think the US should finance all the R&D so that Bombardier can then leap into the “really big airliner” business with US tax payer dollars.

Now that is a conspiracy that I think we can all get behind (after all… Canadians, while distasteful, are not as quite as distasteful as the French.)

I’ll send sketches of a really really long CRJ 900 XXL with an extra two engines.

I really hope the flight crews remember to convert to liters, kilograms, and croissants! Remember the Air Canada 767 that ran out of fuel due to incorrect fuel measurements?

If we really want to help the industry, we should hope that Boeing loses the contract unless they really have the superior product. Only in this way will Boeing have incentive to improve their product line. Subsidizing an inferior product will only postpone the pain and make the eventual fall from grace that much worse when their line can no longer be propped up.

Outsourcing our military to France is the most ridiculous concept this nation could envision.

Please do your part to demand this be nullified and reveresed.

Thanks.

I thought the same thing btw.. there was no way it would go well.. no matter who got the contract.

I think the entire air force should be 737’s (let’s do that post together, want to?)

VARIANTS proposed by the Adam Webster - Aviation Renegade

a) the ground attack warthog style 737 (big.. yet nimble!)
b) the multi role interceptor / fighter bomber 737 (we have extra spars and stringers for extra G’s!)… and cut the wings back a bit for those zippy cruise moments when the Captain hits the Han Solo style warp drive button
c) the “spooky gunship” where the whole left side has Phoenix gattling guns… 1000 rounds per minute.. but instead of bullets.. they’ll be rotary Howitzers (heck, we’ve got the room!)
d) awacs - easy & natural!
e) transport - easy & natural!
f) tanker - easy & natural!
g) STOL - easy & natural! (ask the Canucks for help here)

and best of all.. Boeing can do it all.. or.. maybe an A319/320/321 family? :)