Outsourcing Tankers
If you aren’t already aware of this, the United State’s Military has outsourced the production of the Air Force’s new generation of tankers to two European companies (some history on this here and here). These two companies, EADS and Northrop, are going to be receiving this contract that is worth billions of dollars. Normally, globalization is a very good thing that ends up saving everyone money. However, with the current state of the economy and the respective national security implications, this contract should have been awarded to a domestic company.
In fact, Boeing had bid on this contract and was only outbid because these foreign companies are receiving such large subsidies from their respected governments. This, in itself, should be grounds for the US government to not grant this contract to either EADS or Northrop.
Luckily, the US Government Accountability Office will be looking into Boeing’s formal complaint against this decision and should have a ruling towards the end of this month. The Center for Individual Freedom has taken up the fight by launching AmericasTanker.com. This site not only provides updates about this issue, it also allows visitors to send emails to their respective Representatives and Senators.
If you would like to voice your complaint against EADS and Northrop receiving this contract, go here to send an email to your legislator.
One question we must ask ourselves is that in this time of war, do we really want some of our important military technologies in the hands of foreign companies(definitely if it is the French who haven’t been that supportive of us)?
Boeing has been there for us since before World War II and I think that they deserve our support.
