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Murtha Is Convinced on Tanker Split
Murtha Is Convinced on Tanker Split: On a visit last week to Mobile, Ala., the top House defense appropriator, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) told business and political leaders that he is certain that the way forward for the KC-X tanker program is to split the buy between Boeing and Northrop Grumman, reports the Mobile Press-Register. Murtha hedged his comments slightly, saying, "I have to convince a lot of other people, but I have convinced myself … that we've got to find an alternative if we're going to get this thing on track." Some defense analysts and others agree with Murtha, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates reaffirmed last week his rejection of a split-buy approach, calling it a "terrible idea." Mobile is the planned site for production of the Northrop tanker contender. Murtha called his visit to the area "very productive." He also plans a visit to Washington state, home to Boeing's production facility, and there may receive a less-than enthusiastic response to his split-buy solution. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), for one, opposes such a plan.
2/2/2009
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Verbatim
Preemptive Action
"Since the [Defense] Department's acceptance of the independent estimates last fall, we've been, in just about every respect, acting as if the program were in a Nunn-McCurdy breach. ... We've been taking all of the mitigating and corrective action that we would take as if there were a Nunn-McCurdy breach."
—Air Force Secretary Michael Donley, discussing with reporters the restructure of the F-35 strike fighter program announced in February 2010 and the probability that the program will soon exceed Nunn-McCurdy cost-monitoring thresholds that would necessitate, per US law, a program review and corrective steps, Washington, D.C., March 2, 2010. |
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Verbatim
Message for Grandma
"She has working for her as a citizen in the United States an Air Force Reserve that has some very talented, capable, patriotic, and willing individuals doing the business to keep this nation free. Just like her generation—the 'Greatest Generation'—was, I am very proud of the folks that we have got. If not the second greatest, then they are an extension of the greatest generation and they are ready, willing, and able to do the things that she would want them to do to make sure we keep our freedoms."
—Lt. Gen. Charles Stenner, Air Force Reserve chief, responding to a reporter's question on what the reporter should tell his 85-year-old grandmother to convey to her the importance of Air Force Reservists to the nation's security, Orlando, Fla., Feb. 19, 2010.
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