Politics and Defense Contracts

First off you will find few people that support our nations defense industry more than I, but when I start seeing weak moderates blasting the Department of Defense because a US contractor didn’t win a bid my antennae go up.  The DOD was blasted over the weekend because Boeing didn’t win the contract for 180 aircraft that are to be the next generation of aircraft designed for mid-air refueling.

Now I think the folks over at Boeing do a fantastic job, they are great at what they do and they build some of the finest machines in the world.  If all things are equal in a bid and it comes down to US based contractor and one from another country then we should always keep the dollars here at home first.  That is not the case here.  The aircraft being supplied by the French firm are larger aircraft that are able to carry more fuel which means it can refuel more planes and carry more people than the design from the folks at Boeing.

The folks at Boeing are understandably disappointed but the bottom line is that their bid was an aircraft that is not of the same standard as the one being supplied by the winning firm.  The DOD should always select the best product regardless of who the supplier is, this should drive Boeing and other suppliers from the US to do better, design better products, etc.  This is not to be a welfare system for defense contractors, our military needs the absolute best products possible, even if it is from outside the US.