Tiahrt: No beating Boeing’s KC-767 as best tanker

tanker7678In a commentary for Politico.com, Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, called for the Air Force’s next and (we can hope) final round of bidding for a new $35 billion fleet of air-refueling tankers to be fair and impartial. But he foresees a problem that again could leave Boeing and its workers, in Wichita and elsewhere, outside the winner’s circle: “Unfortunately, the current acquisition system used by Department of Defense favors foreign competitors over American companies. It does this by not accounting for illegal subsidies, waiving complex and expensive regulations for any European competitor and not taking into consideration legal subsidies such as nationalized health care in Europe. By refusing to acknowledge such factors, our government is stacking the deck against American workers at the expense of our national and economic security.” He concluded: “The KC-767 is the right tanker for the Air Force, the American worker and the American taxpayer. It is my hope the Air Force gets it right this time. We simply cannot afford more costly delays.”

15 Comments

  1. Regular
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 6:13 am | Permalink

    It’s time to take care of numero uno, the United States.

    Besides, wasn’t the proposed French Airbus model the same one with the defective ‘fly by wire’ speed control problems the same model as the Brazil crash?

  2. Maggotpunk
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 6:24 am | Permalink

    If they wanted the tankers to be built in Wichita then the Republicans representing Kansas shouldn’t have voted to allow the Defense Department to outsource. Tiahrt is such a free market tea bagger, shouldn’t he be cheering when jobs go to France?

  3. TEX
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 7:11 am | Permalink

    Didn’t Tiahart vote for Airbus last time. Just who’s this guy for. That’s right. The highest donor. He didn’t get the name Tanker Tiahart for nothing.

  4. Politico
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 10:20 am | Permalink

    Obama is not proud of the United States so it is no wonder there would be support by him and the d’s to support outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries.

  5. satatom
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 10:56 am | Permalink

    Instead of these tankers, why not build more unmanned aircraft that need less fuel and can fly continuously over 24 hours with NO refueling?

    Drop the outdated dinosaurs and begin building the 21st century air/spacecraft.

  6. JimJohnson
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 11:23 am | Permalink

    Gosh, Obama’s getting rid of nuclear weapons, and ending all wars, so why do we need jet tankers?

  7. American_Way
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 11:52 am | Permalink

    I hope we get the best tanker for our military men and women – at the best price.

    If the results of the air force’s delayed actions result in a better product at the least cost per unit for the American taxpayer, god bless them.

  8. HappyHeathen
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 3:25 pm | Permalink

    Flip Flop

  9. Monkeyhawk
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 3:34 pm | Permalink

    I just gotta think Tiahrt is getting rilly, rilly bad results from the polling and is staring political oblivion in the face.

    It’s gonna be a nasty-juicy Repubic Party primary between the Toad and Moroan.

    Love it.

  10. satatom
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 4:09 pm | Permalink

    5/26/2009 – ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) — With the ever-increasing military demand to reduce the size and weight of unmanned aircraft while lengthening flight times, Air Force Office of Scientific Research officials here are funding a project to integrate solar power cheaply and easily into the base materials used to build them.

    Dr. Max Shtein and his team at the University of Michigan are investigating the energy harvesting potential of many different device applications, including thin film solar cells reshaped and coated onto long continuous filaments, or fibers.

    When such organic semiconductor coated fibers are woven into a fabric system, the resulting textile can be used not only to form the structural make-up of the unmanned aircraft, but also to generate the electricity to power it.

    To date, Doctor Shtein and his team have demonstrated small, stand-alone prototypes that strongly suggest that this type of application is possible.
    __________________________________

    Too bad American military engineers have been sucking Big Oil’s teat for the last few decades.

    Scrap the entire Air Force fleet and build for the 21st Century.

  11. Jed
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 4:15 pm | Permalink

    I still wonder how much Toddy had to do with engineering the bribery scheme that ended up costing Boeing the lease plan and probably the tanker contract.

  12. TomPaine
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 4:28 pm | Permalink

    So Tiahrt supports Boeing now after doing everything in the 6 years to make sure they lose?

  13. outlander
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 4:59 pm | Permalink

    I’m thinking that a couple of our liberal friends are confusing John McCain with Todd Tiahrt. Tiahrt has always been on Boeing’s side.

  14. lindainks55
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 10:04 pm | Permalink

    I am (again) a card-carrying, officially registered Republican! I will have a say in who is our next Senator! I really, really don’t like Tiahrt! ;-)

  15. BlueJay
    Posted June 14, 2009 at 10:16 pm | Permalink

    I’ll be interfering in the GOP primary as well.