Politicians, military bureaucrats and the new air force tankers
The US Air Force needs tankers for its fleet of planes, particularly for its short range fighters designed to win WWII. But the tankers will also have other uses such as allowing the rapid troop deployments which the Air Force also cannot now do without tankers because it has not purchased the long range cargo planes that now reach anywhere in the world from America.
Over and over again there have been politically motivated delays in the awarding of the tanker contract so that all our military bureaucrats and all our commanders-in-chief since Lyndon Johnson won’t have to make a decision. Why?
The military so that the planes can be revised and revised and revised to always reflect the newest hardware their latest batch of lobbying former associates are pushing.
The inhabitants of the White House because the stakes are high such that one part of the country or another will be disappointed – the contract may be worth as much as $100 billion. And tens of thousands of jobs will be created in either Washington state or Alabama, but not both.
The same thing happened to the White House helicopter fleet replacements. The various committees and bureaucrats spent years and years adding so many features that the helicopters in their last design could not even get off the ground – so the White House bought some civilian models off the shelf for a fraction of the cost.
The planes from Alabama are already flying for the Australian Air Force which didn’t care about either Alabama or Washington. They just wanted tankers and their military decision makers were decisive.
Its a toss-up. If our boys want another all-new toy, it will be Washington and more long delays. If somewhere in the Air Force there is a group of officers wanting the planes in hand faster and more proven, it will be Alabama and slightly shorter long delays.
20 years of indecison is enough. If the Marines had been charged with making the decision they would have shouted at each other all afternoon and made the decision before leaving for supper. And gotten a far superior plane.
