EADS May Pass On KC-X Protest

EADS May Pass On KC-X Protest

By Colin Clark Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 5:21 pm
Posted in Air, International, Policy

While it’s not official, there are indications that EADS NA will not file a bid protest about the airborne tanker deal with the Government Accountability Office.

Reuters broke the story in Europe and then AFP quoted a source “close to the matter” who said “apparently” a protest will not be filed. But it also quoted a spokesman for EADS NA saying no decision has been reached. The French news agency has excellent sources within EADS, the parent company. An EADS NA spokesman told me the company is still weighing its options. But the initial sense from company officials after Boeing was named winner was that EADS was leaning strongly toward filing a protest.

Given the importance of other business for EADS NA with the Pentagon, and in the interests of US– European trade ties (especially important in the defense world) , the European parent may well have decided to cut its losses and not risk antagonizing Pentagon buyers or the Obama White House. The company is proposing its AAS-72X for the Army’s armed scout helicopter mission. And it supplies the TRS-3D radar for Lockheed Martin’s Littoral Combat Ship.


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RLaird March 3rd, 2011 at 7:05 pm

Why would anyone worry about antagonizing the Obama White House?

Ron March 3rd, 2011 at 7:16 pm

It’s called common sense.

Sarah March 3rd, 2011 at 9:15 pm

American allies are the ones being antagonized by Barry Obama while America’s enemies are the ones being courted as they have hatred of America in common with the current white house occupier.

Oblat March 3rd, 2011 at 9:49 pm

Of course fraud corruption and then buying congressmen to rig the contract so that an obsolete airframe is bought is just considered business as usual.

Sarkozy may just want to push ahead with lifting the arms embargo against China, since America is so obviously a closed corrupt market.

Will March 4th, 2011 at 12:01 am

Oblat,

If you believe that ANY defense procurement process worth Billions dollars from ANY government worth thousands of jobs will be free of political influence, then you live in Utopia and I would love to come visit you!

Defense procurement and politics can never totally be seperated.

It is EADS’s best interest to let this one go concerning 1) their other and future business in the U.S. 2) Future tanker buys which they will be more suited (KC-Y looks to be a better place for the KC-45) 3) Little merit to protest based on the AF emphasis on the lowest bidder (which is why NG dropped out in the first place).

Curt March 4th, 2011 at 3:22 am

What a surprise.
What grounds can EADS protest on? That they didn’t like the RFP? Lets see how long it takes the GAO to toss that one out.
Assuming the USAF did their homework and did not make the huge mistakes they made last time, there is nothing to protest. The proposal that best met the RFP was picked.
EADS complained the whole time that the RFP favored a smaller, less expensive plane (which coincidently they did not have but Boeing did). The smaller, cheaper plane won, so they were proved right.

mikekilopapa March 4th, 2011 at 3:48 am

” US– European trade ties” ??? .….what ties ? .…the ones that mean the US sells billions of dollors worth of military hardware, incl big ticket items such as planes ‚missiles , radar systems , armored vehicles , guns and what have you, to europe .…..while you wont let us sell you as much as a fucking hand grenade in return ?? …you know what …i think europe can do without those ties .And as for all this talk about the KC-Y competion .…its BS .…if it ever materializes Boeing is gonna win that one too , probably with a 777 based tanker , and there will be the same wailling about american jobs and ” american planes for the american warfighter ” crap as in the KC-X . in the end the USAF will have no choice but to pick boeing .

momomimamo March 4th, 2011 at 5:58 am

i’m sure you are one american, you imagine europe in one country, and you search if hungary is one country…

freefallingbomb March 4th, 2011 at 6:49 am

Don’t you understand simple English or irony? He clearly said “…while you wont let us sell you as much as…”, so he considered himself European, too.

One day you gotta explain me what point you still see in posting on U.S. American millitary Web-sites, after this phony contest…

Ted March 4th, 2011 at 8:16 am

How is the 767 airframe obsolete? It’s not like some point in 90’s the physics of the universe changed and now prevents the 767 from flying and the A330 the savior of mankind.

Each are commercial airliners. Neither of them are meant to yank and bank or pull 9-g’s at 30 alpha. They are aluminum tubes with wings. One plane is 40% bigger than the other. Pretty obvious that it can carry more fuel and pay load, while the smaller one can land at smaller runways. People working for the air force aren’t stupid. Each plane met the requirements set but one was cheaper: Boeing.

Why pay more money for more capability then you originally wanted?

Oblat March 4th, 2011 at 8:18 am

Yep screwing the warfighter is business as normal for the contracting class.

William C. March 4th, 2011 at 9:11 am

According to Oblat anybody and everybody working at some job slightly related to the defense industry is:
1. A criminal.
2. Rolling in huge piles of money.
3. An evillllll American (European contractors aren’t bad)

William C. March 4th, 2011 at 9:15 am

It’s the computer which always knows better than the pilot that makes the difference. But I for one welcome our Airbus robot overlords…

Gregory Savage March 4th, 2011 at 10:48 am

Why do you europeans think that we have to buy your equipment. And you speak of armored vehicles, last time I checked most of Europe was rocking European armored vehicles. If you want to talk about fair, then why not just consider the f-16 or f15 instead of the typhoon which won’t be able to do air to ground missions until 2018. Look in the mirror before you call the pot black.

Yes it would be in EADS best interest to not jam up our tanker procurement, if they do want other contracts. The trade seems about equal to me, except for the things that europeans still can’t produce, like aesa, stealth, drones. So don’t give me a sob story about all that we sell to europe. European countries choose which weapons suite them best, look at German and France. Speaking of which, if you are from westren Europe you are mighty ungreatful. How many of our grand parents did we loose saving your unappreciative arses.

James Penda March 4th, 2011 at 11:21 am

Actually Europe does produce AESA radar, Stealth technology and drones. All three are in EADS product portfolio as well.

mikekilopapa March 4th, 2011 at 11:39 am

come on ..ffs will you ever give it a rest with that ww2 crap .…while we are eternally greatfull to the people who saved us from nazism (and communism) , we dont owe the current generation of americans a damn thing ! and besides ..no matter which way you cut it you were actually dragged kicking and sceaming into that war …it was hitler who declared war on you and attacked you first so you didnt have a choice. you certainly did not do it ’cause you liked the coulor of our eyes..Now i dont want to turn this into a flame war and it wasnt ment as a US vs EU thing.…i merely think that the lack of free ( or atleast fair ) competition is to the detriment of both . by the way i’m from denmark , a long time f16 user and with plenty of other us equipment in its inventory so not lobbying for european defense industry out of national reasons .…just like to see a level playingfield. cheers

Robert March 4th, 2011 at 12:21 pm

Obsolete — What do you know? You are just an anti-American pinhead.

Robert March 4th, 2011 at 12:23 pm

Agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Radarnav March 4th, 2011 at 4:53 pm

You might want to check the accuracy of your Danish history books. The US was drawn into WW II by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. The US declared war on Japan on December 8th. Germany as part of the Axis Alliance (Germany — Italy — Japan) declared war on the US on December 10th. Hitler never attacked us first — it was the Japanese that brought us into that war.
Also, if you remember your history, the US was supplying the European Allies with military arms, food, fuel, etc. for well over 2 years before Hitler declared war. It was done for two strategic reasons: 1st: Keep England and Russia viable fighting Germany and Italy, while we executed our 2nd strategic reason: Building up our Armed Forces and Industrial capability to wage a war of this magnitude.
We weren’t dragged into the war. We needed time to overcome the lack of a credible Armed Force to counter both Germany and Japan — all brought on by people from Europe and the US who absolutely believed in “Peace at any Price.”

Curt March 7th, 2011 at 8:25 am

Oh, I’m sorry, were you under the mistaken impression that anyone in the higher levels of DoD reads this blog, or any other, or bases any decisionmaking on what is posted here?

Dodbuzz1 March 7th, 2011 at 8:36 am

Hey Curt,

Guess what? Lots of senior DoD folks read us. Lots of em. One example: When the Army was rebuilding its GCV program, Vice Chief Gen. Chiarelli quoted us in his briefing to Congress, citing both our reporting and commenters in our stories. One story among the thousands in the big city of DoD…

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