Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
US Aerospace’s AN-112KC
When a small company called US Aerospace announced it teamed with Ukraine’s Antonov to offer an aerial refueling tanker called the AN-112KC, observers from all over the industry scratched their heads in puzzlement.
First, few had heard of US Aerospace. It turns out that this is a “Pink Sheet” publicly traded company that is in financial difficulty. A “Pink Sheet” company is a mechanism in which stock of companies that typically cannot qualify for the major exchanges can be traded, or stock that is called “Penny Stock” is trade. Penny Stock is stock that sells for, well, pennies. Bankrupt companies are also often traded on the Pink Sheets.
US Aerospace is in default of significant debt and it has owed back taxes to the US government. It latest quarter report indicated around a half-million dollars in cash.
O’Keefe, son survive Alaska plane crash
Update, August 11: Full details of the survivors and dead may be found in this Anchorage Daily News article. This article also has a description of events leading to the crash and rescue.
The Mobile Press-Register spoke with hospital officials Tuesday night, who reported Sean O’Keefe in critical condition with a broken pelvis and other injuries. His son, Kevin, had a broken leg and other injuries and is reported in serious condition. This story is here.
Original Post:
ARLINGTON, Va. – Aug. 10, 2010 – EADS North America has been informed that
company Chief Executive Officer Sean O’Keefe survived the Alaska aircraft accident
that tragically took the lives of five individuals. Chairman Ralph D. Crosby, Jr. issued
the following statement:
“It was with a great sense of relief and gratitude that we learned that Sean, and his son,
Kevin, survived the aircraft crash in Alaska. We extend our deepest sympathy to the
families of those less fortunate in this terrible accident.
“We owe a debt of gratitude for the heroic efforts of the members of the rescue crew
and others who rushed to the scene. We look forward to Sean’s full recovery and his
rapid return to EADS North America.”
Personal Note:
We have, in the course of our work, met and interviewed Sean O’Keefe on several occasions. He is one of the nicest guys in this business and we are relieved at this good news. We have not heard about the extent of his injuries, or those of his son. We hope that these are limited, as with the other two survivors. It is a tragedy that five people did not survive.
O’Keefe fate unknown; assessing impact on tanker competition
The fate of Sean O’Keefe, CEO of EADS North America, who was among those on the de Havilland DHC-3 Otter than crashed and killed five of the nine people on board, remains unknown. Former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, for whom O’Keefe once worked, was killed, according to NBC and CBS news.
O’Keefe reportedly was traveling with his son. The elder O’Keefe often accompanied Stevens on fishing trips.
EADS NA is in a controversial and bitter competition with The Boeing Co. to win the contract for the KC-X USAF aerial tanker. Whether O’Keefe was among those killed or serious injuries require a long recovery period, his absence from the EADS leadership is unlikely to affect the company’s effort to win the contract.
Stevens long-time friend to Boeing
Ted Stevens, the irascible former Senator from Alaska, died Monday in a small plane crash in the state while en route to a fishing trip some 300 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Stevens, though from Alaska, was a long-time ally of The Boeing Co., and was instrumental in beginning the KC-767 tanker lease deal in 2001 that later became a scandal that sent an Air Force procurement office and the chief financial officer of Boeing to jail.
Stevens could be counted on strong support for Boeing commercial and defense programs until he was defeated for reelection in 2008 in the wake of a federal conviction for improprieties. A court later overturned the conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct on the part of the Bush 43 Justice Department. The Obama administration declined to retry Stevens.
EADS’ O’Keefe on Alaska plane crash/Sen. Stevens dead
EADS North America Sean O’Keefe was on a deHavilland DHC-3 Otter that crashed today in Alaska. His fate, and that of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who was also reported to be on board, are unknown. Five of the nine people died. Rescue operations are underway.
Update: MSNBC reports that O’Keefe was traveling with a son.
Update: Ted Stevens reported dead. No information on others.
O’Keefe at one time worked for Stevens and accompanied him on an annual fishing trip.
The plane crashed near Dillingham, some 325 miles SW of Anchorage.
The Anchorage Daily News is updating coverage as developments come in.
DAE cancels Boeing, Airbus orders
DAE Capital canceled 10 Boeing 777s, 15 Boeing 787s, and 25 A320s/A350s, according to data from both manufactures.
Commercial Aviation Online picked up the Airbus cancellations:
Dubai Aerospace Entreprise (DAE) has cancelled a total of 25 Airbus A320/A350 aircraft, latest figures from the the European manufacturer show.
The lessor, which had 70 A320 and 30 A350-900 aircraft on order, now has 52 A320 and 23 A350-900 orderbook with Airbus.
The chart above, based on the Ascend data base, shows the delivery streams for all the Airbus and Boeing orders prior to cancellation.
Boeing’s Albaugh talks about 737 future
Here is another segment of our interview with Jim Albaugh, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, during the Farnborough Air Show.
In this post, we report Albaugh’s thoughts on boosting the 737 rate to 40 per month and the challenges associated with doing so; the chess game between Airbus and Boeing over re-engining vs. replacement; the prospect of using an open rotor engine; and more.
Buying Russian for US lift
We have, from time-to-time, joked that the USAF ought to buy a Russian aerial tanker as a way to avoid the Boeing-EADS-Northrop-Airbus rhubarb in the long-running KC-X saga.
Well, here’s news that the US Navy is planning to buy Russian helicopters and United Technology’s Sikorsky helicopter division is not at all happy with this sole-source selection.
Let’s see if all the Buy American crowd gets as wound up over this one as they have in the KC-X contest.
Tanker award to slip to 2011?
Update, Aug. 6: Here is a Pentagon spokesman reacting to the US Aerospace protest over being rejected for its KC-X bid because it missed the filing deadline by five minutes, as reported by The Dayton Business Journal:
In a press briefing Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said the notion that any U.S. Military personnel deliberately interfered with the company’s attempt to deliver a bid is “absolutely absurd.”
“Listen, the other two companies that bid on this went to great measures to ensure that their bid arrived at the prescribed time … This is not a high school homework assignment, okay? These deadlines count and any professional contractor understands that,” Morrell said.
Update, August 4: This falls into the Holy Crap, What’s Next? department. The Seattle PI has the latest in the saga of the KC-X procurement. US Aerospace–the one with the Russian tanker proposal based on a plane that doesn’t exist–has filed a protest with the GAO over being denied the right to bid on the contest on a technicality.
Original Post:
In what has become perhaps the longest-running and certainly most tiresome story in Defense procurement, there is increasing speculation that the USAF contract award for the KC-X tanker might slip from November 12 into 2011.
Heidi Wood, the aerospace analyst for Morgan Stanley, wrote in her report on Boeing earnings last week that the award might slip. She did not elaborate in her note, but in an email to us expressed her skepticism of the November 12 date, given the history of this procurement.