06 May 2020

I Am Baffled

In 1975 when defense budgets were suffering from the downsizing from Vietnam...

We managed to convert an existing passenger aircraft into a tanker and put it into service in just six years.

The KC-10A is still in service.

In 2001 we decided that we needed a replacement for the KC-135 (when the newest one was 36 years old) and KC-10.

It took ten years to just pick the plane and going on another ten to actually enter service.

Even more astonishing is the same company makes a tanker on the same airframe as the KC-46 which is in foreign service right now.

It makes you wonder why we didn't just buy that and call it good.
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3 comments:

  1. SofwareJanitor06 May, 2020 14:48

    There's a right way, a wrong way and the Air Force way?

    Or just typical government procurement in general?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Angus McThag06 May, 2020 16:46

      Something has changed in our procurement process since the cold war ended.

      Delete
  2. Differ10 May, 2020 09:41

    Several repeats of the competition between Boeing and Airbus. Several prosecutions for malfeasance. Federal Acquisition Regs are Byzantine...go try reading them; there's even a "University" to teach those in .mil and .gov how to apply them. I could go on....

    ReplyDelete

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