Two top Defense Department officials today (Feb. 16) told a conference sponsored by Aviation Week magazine that the contract award for the KC-X could be made by the end of the month. The buzz in Washington is that… Read More
Update, Feb. 15: at the request of the magazine, we have delinked the article. Here is a synopsis; the magazine reports: The delay is now 27 months, with deliveries hoped for in March; Writing comprehensive technical manuals for… Read More
We posted an item Friday that normally would have waited until this edition of Odds and Ends, but the news that John Leahy might leave Airbus next year couldn’t wait. Aviation Week broke the story. But we spoke… Read More
Day 2 of the PNAA conference: Richard Aboulafia, consultant of The Teal Group, said that a split buy is the only way the USAF will be able to procure the KC-X tanker. Aboulafia said the decision no longer… Read More
We’re at Day 1 of the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference in Lynnwood (WA) and at the Defense Focus Day co-organized by the Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition, consultant Michel Merluzeau of G2 Solutions (Kirkland, WA) predicted EADS will… Read More
For all the spin back-and-forth Monday (Jan. 31) on the final, but still confidential, ruling on illegal subsidies to Boeing, little was said about the long-running (and overly-politicized) effort by Boeing and its supporters to have Congress force… Read More
Update, Jan. 28, 6:30am PST: Predictably, Sen. Cantwell wasn’t satisfied. She said the Senate Hearing didn’t get at the “core issue,” and called for an investigation by the USAF Inspector General. EADS said today that’s fine; here is… Read More
With Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) set to hold the tanker hearing on Thursday (Jan. 27), it is clear the USAF continues to drag on its decision in the KC-X competition, which was expected this month. It now looks… Read More
It will be a big week for EADS and Boeing on a variety of topics: January 26 is Boeing’s year-end earnings call. More guidance on 787 deliveries and speculation of potential writes-offs mounts. On #1’s former, we think… Read More
Side note: While EADS and Boeing fight over the USAF tanker contract, and neither one is capable of delivering their respective tankers on time, IAI Bedek of Israel completed conversion of the Boeing 767-200ER (the same airplane Boeing… Read More