KC-X is ON

It's ON.

The great race for the next Air Force Arial Tanker Replacement Aircraft or KC-X is ON. The Final version of the RFP hit the street on Wednesday this last week and both competitors are busily pulping trees for the paper they will need for their submissions. The DOD claims they made hundreds of changes to appease the two suspected offers. Time will tell.

Both parties are claimed to be upset. The Northrop Grumman/EADS/Airbus complained earlier that the Draft RFP leaned towards a replacement of the KC-135 airframe which they feel reflects more the Boeing product not theirs. They had threatened to throw a temper tantrum and go off sulking on some corner sucking on their thumps. Collectively.

Meanwhile Boeing was laying down the crocodile tears and still moaning about the fact no one dared address the illegal subsidy issue that Airbus is guilty of. As determined by the WTO Airbus received 5 Billion dollars of illegal support from partner countries.

By all rights this should have been addressed in some kind of penalty on Airbus but the DOD/Air Force did not make any changes to accommodate the WTO finding. Maybe they think Boeing is guilty of the same thing however the business model and the funding sources for the 767 airframe (and most if not all of the Boeing commercial products) is not from the US Government or any government for that matter. That source is what is known as "venture capital" and is usually made up of private sources.

If you want to see how the European sausage is made simply look at how much over the barrel Airbus has their government partners on the A400M Transport aircraft. When they miscalculate or have problems and they run out of money they simply go back to the partner governments and get more money. No risk and all the reward. The WTO ruled that the A330 aircraft contains 5 billion dollars of extra aid that makes it less expensive than its competition.

So, standby to standby I will be watching if the NGS/EADS/Airbus actually puts in a proposal.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Airbus/KC-45 (right face) stolen from:

Boeing KC-767 (left face) stolen from:

Props To Them Canadian Laides

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

I do have to do this even though it hurts.

One of the finest Ice Hockey games ever was held last night, the US versus the Canadian Ladies played for the Gold medal at the Olympics. It was a wonderful and entertaining game, both squads of Ladies showed the world that Ladies playing Ice Hockey does not mean slow or boring or Not physical. It was a Great Game.

The only problem with it was of course the score, Canada 2, USA 0. Not that the US Ladies did not play well, they were magnificent. It was great to watch them but they did come up short. They never connected on the Power Play despite having many opportunities (and twice they had long 5 on 3 power plays).

I wish them all the best as they move on, I hope to see them again it really is too bad that there is not a woman's League that one could watch on TV.

My hats off to the Canadian Ladies, they did a phenomenal job and they deserve the Gold.

I just hope the Canadian Men were not watching!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Summit Summary

I heard parts of the Great Obamacare Rescue Debate on my XM radio. My take is that PresBO and his Democrat Cronies in both the House and Senate are really grasping at straws with this charade of a debate. Some of my thoughts on what was said and by who:

PresBO, he literally became the Blackmailer in Chief (and not because he is HALF Black) but because in his closing he basically told the Republicans that if they did not get on board well then, the Democrat Leadership will go and Pass the Bill any way they could. Using the Reconciliation Club on the Republicans like they were baby seals, it's a good thing most Republicans have hard heads. He really is a bully and his time in Chicago politics really shows.

Harry Reid's comment about "No one was talking about Reconciliation", WOW. And he said that with a straight face too, bald face lying on National TV (ok, it was on CSPAN which is at least on cable).

Joe Biden (sorry I can't bring myself to call him Vice President) and him saying that he hasn't a clue what the American Public is thinking. This is so funny because he must not have bothered to look out his window on September 12^th when around 1 million Americans were hanging out around his house bitching about what He and PresBO and all the democrat cronies are doing. I won't give him the benefit of watching TV because it's probably tuned to NBC anyway and they missed completely so far the entire Tea Party movement and the September the 12^th protest.

The best performance by a Republican was Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) who decomposed the Obamacare using the CBO to do it, really great work.

I do think the biggest hit here does go to PresBO because he gave up the high ground here. He should have acted as a moderator or arbiter between the two parties, but instead he joined the Democrat side thereby diminishing his standing as President. David Bellavia has a great analysis of the summit but mostly about this idea of PresBO selling out the Office of President to pull this off. Go HERE for that story.

The message here is simply, By Any Means Necessary. The PresBO has basically sold his soul and his Presidency for this monstrosity that we can truly call Obamacare. He has bought it hook line and sinker and he wants us, You and Me to swallow.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

White Lightning

I have to admit I take great pride in the USA Hockey team beating the Canadian Hockey team. I know they are teams filled to the brim with NHL players but I get this wholesome good feeling anytime a Canadian Hockey team loses to any other team, from any other nation. They "own" ice hockey; it's their national pass time. Here is a story about just how many people watched the game last night, some think like 2/3's of the entire population of Canada.

I hope the USA Woman's team kicks-ass on the Canadian Woman's team too; you know just to rub it in a little. Maybe a lot!

I love that it's been since 1992/1993 season since the last time a Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup (Montreal Canadians – I spell it the USA way not the 'other' way). Oh they have been close having teams in the final games 4 times in the intervening years but they all went down in flames.

I know I have more deep rooted issues here with this almost maniacal antipathy towards the supposed "Great White Up" and yes for the record I have been there, once. Montreal. For a Hockey tournament. Let's just say, it was not pretty and I hold all them Canucks responsible for it. And yes, I hold a grudge a long time.

As for all those people watching their Hockey, I am sure a large portion of the population up there are still viewing it in Black and White TV sets. I say that because the NHL requires that the Centerline in the NHL rinks be a dashed line so that you can tell that's what it is without color TV. I am sure there was a lot of squealing over the border when the US TV market went all digital. And no rebates for them to get those converter boxes. Poor babies.

I guess I am a bit down on them because we are soon to get a worse health care system then they have. Makes me sick. Good thing we are playing better Ice Hockey right now then they, I'd really hate them if they were winning!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Earlier this week the PresBO entertained us with one of his traveling road shows at the site of what may eventually become a Nuclear Power plant, pledging over 8 Billion of China's dollars in loan guarantees. The power plant IF built and permitted would be the first Nuclear Power plant built in the US in almost 30 years. That's a big IF from a democrat and especially from one that has rabid environmentalists in his administration, especially within the EPA and its permitting arm. That very arm which has shown it is not afraid to shut down an industry because they just don't like it, just ask the Coal industry in West Virginia. Permitting a Nuclear Power plant is a 5 to 7 year process and you are NEVER guaranteed the permit no matter how much money you pour into the actual project. To say it's hard to get venture funding for something like that is an understatement.

But, there is a budding movement towards Nuclear in a slightly different direction. Here is a story that ran in the Wall Street Journal about very small Nuclear power plants designed for outputs on the smaller scale compared with the large size ones that were normal in this country in the way back, you know before the China Syndrome movie came out and ruined the industry. Ok, actually it was 3-Mile Island but who's to say that if that movie was not out when that happened it would have garnered the attention, especially with the oil embargo happening at the same time and gas prices shooting up out into space.

This new design is based on and built by the same company that has been building Nuclear Power reactors for the US Navy which as we all know has a sterling record in the Nuclear business. The small Nuke Plants could be sited in many places off limits today because of the size constraints and construction of large buildings. It would also make for quicker permitting given the same plant design could be used in many places.

And this is something that has always bothered me. I live within 10 miles of a Nuclear Power plant.

The company that owns and operates these two mammoth reactors owns two other power plants and get this, none of the plants are built with the same reactor plants. That's right, of the 6 reactors that this power company owns and operates they are of three different designs. Not much efficiency there, no redundancy, no sharing of personnel or being able to share parts.

I've always felt that the there should only be one reactor design licensed by the DOE and used in the nation's Nuclear power plants. The power company could put it in any kind of building they wanted and there would be different sitting issues that each power company would have to handle but the basic reactor plant would be the same from company to company, from power plant to power plant.

This design philosophy would allow for very simplified permitting since the government has to approve every pipe, valve, nut/bolt and wire installed in the reactor. The same reactor used across the country would allow for common pool of approved parts and large lot purchases would drive down their price. It would also mean one set of plans which if you know anything about the 3-mile Island incident you know was an issue.

It makes too much sense I guess and it would mean the government taking a leadership issue here and you know that's not going to happen anytime soon.

One can dream. This new format is a game changer and a move in that direction. Good on them. I hope it works and that our government gets on board and does not hold up permitting.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Tanker Wars - Update

I am just throwing out some generic news about the upcoming "Spring Offensive" in the Tanker Wars. Currently the Air Force is planning on releasing their RFP sometime next week. They did address some issues in the RFP from the Draft version that the bidders were all complaining about, some more than others.

So far this is what we have:

The NGS/EADS/Airbus Team is still crying about "competition" warning the Air Force that it may not bid because it feels the Draft version of the RFP is tilted towards its major competitor in this arena – Boeing. Their complaints are legion and the Air Force to its credit did go through the motions of listening to NGS/EADS/Airbus but we won't know how much affect this will have on the actual RFP until it is released. Northrop is keen on the competition complaint (where else have we heard that, oh yeah the Royalty in our House and Senate whining for a public option in Health Care) that I think they have hooked their whole wagon to this rube, here is a quote from NGS Spokesman Randy Belote

"the current draft RFP, as structured, fails the test of true competition and, without meaningful changes, is not an RFP to which Northrop Grumman can respond."

So let's see just how far the Air Force goes in modifying the draft, that should be this coming week.

As far as Boeing is concerned their pretty much ok with the draft and I think their only complaint was about the Fixed-Price portion of the effort. This to me is understandable because on any new aircraft program there are issues that you cannot predict and bidding that as a Fixed-Price is assuming a lot of risk. Boeing should be able to master this however given they already have a version of their Tanker, the KC-767 flying and operating for both Japan and Italy. But still, the Air Force will want its own "stink" on this aircraft and the contractor will have to apply that and that is where the risk is at.

Programmatically the biggest worry Boeing had was the idea of"Split" tanker procurement. This is where the Air Force buys aircraft from both contractors. This is of course beyond dumb, it borders insanity but it is a favor to some. The biggest proponent of this approach was disgraced Congressman John Murtha and he had the good fortune of dying. Murtha was the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and he welded a lot of power in that role, and was involved in a lot of shady dealings in that role. I won't go into the Hidetha Marines incident and his comments on that, which is why I called him "disgraced". But that is another story.

At any rate, with Murtha pushing up daisy's the idea of a "Split" procurement pretty much goes down into the hole with him, Senator Shelby aside. His replacement as Chair on the HASC is generally recognized as a Boeing supporter.

Here is an article regarding the fact that the Air Force is prepared for a single bidder, is this the Boy's in Blue reading the tea leaves? One wonders. Well we don't have long to wait.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Fire from the Sky – ABL Test

The Airborne Laser Test Bed aircraft (a highly modified Boeing 747) has successfully shot down two ballistic missiles by using nothing more than amplified light.

Story here and here. Short version: The massive flying laser shot the first missile down after a sea launch while it was on its initial assent only two minutes after launch. The second shot came just an hour later against a target that was launched from a land base. The tests were done off the Coast of California near about to the Navy Sea Range, a part of the NAWC-Weapons Division at Point Mugu.

The demonstration included both liquid fueled and solid fueled missiles. A great success for the combined/joint test team that brought all of this together. Now they get to pack their bags and throw away all they have done. The program was scrapped by PresBO.

BT: Jimmy T sends.