The American Spectator

Reader Mail

p> COMPETITORS IN ARMS br> Re: Quin Hillyer's Refueling a Political Fire : /p> p>In alphabetical order: Bell, Chance-Vought, Convair (Consolidated-Vultee), Curtiss-Wright, Douglas, Lockheed, Martin, North American, Republic, no longer exist or no longer make airframes. As admirable as Boeing undoubtedly is, competition is America, and Northrop Grumman had better get a fair shake. br> -- Frank Natoli br> Newton, New Jersey /p>

I do not take issue or sides with regards to Mr. Hillyer's championing of the Northrop Grumman/EADS tanker airplane candidate over the Boeing, as I have not evaluated the two airplanes to give an informed opinion. But I do disagree, for purely logistical reasons, with his idea of splitting the contract between the two companies if it means, as Mr. Hillyer's piece seems to imply, permitting each firm to build their own unique aircraft. Doing so would result in two different airframes, requiring two aircrew training programs, separate depot and home station repair programs, two systems for spare parts acquisition and distribution, and complicate transient maintenance requirements. In other words, nearly every facet of manning, operating and maintaining a complex weapon system, and their associated costs, would have to be duplicated. And I can tell you, it isn't cheap.

p>An alternate plan might be for the Air Force to select one design and employ both companies in its manufacture, as was done with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber in WWII, where over 18,000 airframes were built by several companies, including Consolidated Aircraft, Douglas, North American and Ford Motor. This might engender the competition that Mr. Hillyer endorses.

topics:
Taxes, Hillary Clinton, Mainstream Media, Islam, Global Warming, Military, Iraq, NATO, Africa