Tanker Truths
26 June 2008
Procedural Flaws Don't Mean Northrop Grumman Selection Was Wrong
Numerous media reports, today, focus on a single sentence in the 67-page GAO analysis reached yesterday supporting its decision to sustain the Boeing tanker protest. "But for these errors," the GAO stated, "we believe Boeing would have had a substantial chance of being selected for award." What readers should note is that the suggestion that the procedural errors it found might have led to a different result is the standard language included in any sustained protest.
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16 June 2008
Tacoma Editorial Backs Boeing's False Arguments
The Tacoma News-Tribune is backing Boeing's false arguments, arguing on its editorial page that the Air Force's entire decision-making process could be flawed because it made small mistakes in calculating the life cycle cost of America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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13 June 2008
Air Force Evaluation Adjustments Don't Affect Decision
Boeing's backers are trying to make a big deal about adjustments to the Air Force's cost estimates for America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers, but Reuters and others, including the Air Force itself, are saying that these slight changes don't alter the fact that Northrop Grumman beat Boeing on 4 out of 5 (tying the fifth) major selection criteria, and also that program cost was not a major factor. Furthermore, the changes don't suggest that there were any problems with the Air Force's overall evaluation of bids between the two companies.
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12 June 2008
Boeing Suggests Problems with Air Force Evaluation
Reuters and several other media outlets are reporting, this afternoon, on a Boeing corporation filing before the Government Accountability Office concerning word from the Air Force that it had slightly miscalculated what is known as the Most Probable Life Cycle Cost of Boeing's tanker design and the Northrop Grumman KC-45.
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11 June 2008
Boeing Runs Washington Post Ad Misstatements – For the 10th Time
Boeing is at it again, taking out its 10th full-page ad in The Washington Post, filled with the same errors, misstatements and made-up figures as its past efforts. If the claims - and numbers - Boeing includes in this ad were true, it likely would have actually won the Air Force contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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06 June 2008
Boeing's Backers Try To Use Air Force Resignations To Drum Up Concern
The Mobile Press-Register is answering a question raised by one of Boeing's backers in Congress as to whether the resignation of two top Air Force officials had anything to do with the Air Force's decision to award Northrop Grumman the contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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04 June 2008
Boeing Recycling Misinformation
Boeing's tanker team has run out of gas. Today, Boeing is resorting to recycling an ad in The Washington Post nearly identical to an April 15 ad it ran in the same newspaper; both rely on false and previously-discredited charges about Northrop Grumman's KC-45 tanker.
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29 May 2008
New Chapter in Boeing Disinformation Campaign
Boeing's backers have opened a new chapter in their disinformation campaign about Northrop Grumman's contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers; The Politico is reporting that an international engineers union has worked up a "scathing white paper aimed at revving up opposition the Air Force's aerial tanker award," while a conservative group has launched an Email blast - aimed at generating calls and letters to Congress - that insults the integrity of the U.S. Air Force by falsely charging the contract means the outsourcing of national security and jobs.
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27 May 2008
Washington State Newspaper Reports on Boeing Misstatements
On its editorial page, the Tri-City (Washington) Herald repeats the falsehoods and misstatements Boeing and its backers have been making about Northrop Grumman's contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers, including the false claim that the contract went to a foreign company and will lead to the outsourcing of national security.
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22 May 2008
Boeing Runs More Misguided Washington Post Ads
Boeing is once again misstating the facts about the clear superiority of the Northrop Grumman KC-45, using a full-page ad in today's Washington Post to try to obscure the fact that the Air Force found Northrop Grumman's bid superior to Boeing's in 4 out of 5 major selection criteria.
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22 May 2008
Supporters of Losing Bid Set Up "Mimic" Web Site
Supporters of the losing bid to provide the Air Force with the next generation of aerial refueling tankers have opened a new chapter in their campaign. They're in the process of building a web site called "America's Tanker," which is clearly a "me too" version of the "America's New Tanker" site that highlights the Northrop Grumman KC-45 and all of the reasons why it was selected by the United States Air Force after a rigorous, fair and transparent competition.
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20 May 2008
Key Misstatements by Boeing and Its Backers
In today's Roll Call, Representative Nancy Boyda of Kansas repeats some of the key misstatements being made by Boeing and its backers - that Northrop Grumman's contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers means the outsourcing of American jobs and national security.
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15 May 2008
False Claims by Boeing's Backers
The Chicago Tribune posted a piece originally published in the Newport News, Va., Daily Press that repeats false claims by Boeing's backers that the contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers went to a foreign company and will result in the outsourcing of American jobs.
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14 May 2008
Boeing Ad Again Mistates Facts
Boeing is once again misstating the facts in arguing that it should have the Air Force contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers that Northrop Grumman won fair and square.
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12 May 2008
Senators Ask Bush Administration To Verify Northrop Grumman's Claims
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that senators from Washington, Michigan and Oregon are asking the Bush administration to verify claims that Northrop Grumman's contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers will support 48,000 American jobs.
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09 May 2008
Northrop Grumman Win Will Support 48,000 American Jobs
Gannett News Service is reporting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's concerns over Northrop Grumman's contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers are based in part over a belief that the contract will have a negative impact on American jobs.
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08 May 2008
Boeing Supporters Continue Mischaracterizations of Air Force Evaluations
Boeing's supporters continue to mischaracterize the Air Force's evaluations of its proposed tanker and that of winning bidder Northrop Grumman in hopes of overturning Northrop Grumman's contract to construct America's next generation of aerial refueling tanker. Some of those arguments are being echoed by Boeing's congressional supporters.
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07 May 2008
Who Should Decide: the Air Force or Boeing?
Today's Boeing ad in The Washington Post, "The Tanker Decision. Oversized Aircraft, Oversized Costs. It Doesn't Add Up" raises a fundamental question: Who should decide the capabilities of the KC-45 refueling aircraft, and how it should be used, the Air Force, or Boeing? Moreover, Boeing continues to make up facts to suit its arguments.
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06 May 2008
Conservative Activists Repeats False Claims
In an op-ed in Investor's Business Daily, conservative activist Kerri Houston repeats many of the false assertions Boeing's backers are making in trying to overturn Northrop Grumman's contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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29 Apr 2008
More Boeing Advertisements With Erroneous Claims
Boeing has a full-page ad in today's Washington Post that again misrepresents the facts surrounding Northrop Grumman's win of an Air Force contract to construct America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers. Today, we even have video to refute Boeing's erroneous claims.
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24 Apr 2008
Boeing Attacks U.S. Air Force in Washington Post Advertisement
Boeing again appears to be attacking the U.S. Air Force's competence in a full-page ad in today's Washington Post, in which the losing bidder challenges the military's decision that Northrop Grumman had the superior bid for building America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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23 Apr 2008
Northrop Grumman KC-45 Is a Win for American Workers
Today's Tallahassee Democrat writes that lawmakers and residents of South Florida gathered yesterday at Tallahassee's City Hall to "speak out against the loss of about 1,000 state jobs to European defense contractor EADS."
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22 Apr 2008
Rep. Tiahrt Issues Misstatements on CNBC
Representative Todd Tiahrt is once again misrepresenting the facts surrounding Northrop Grumman's win of an Air Force contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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18 Apr 2008
Boeing Political Supporters Threaten to Cut Funding for Contract
Today, the Wall Street Journal reports a handful of Boeing's political supporters gathered outside the Capitol and threatened to usurp the Air Force contracting process by cutting off funding for the Air Force aerial refueling-tanker contract because it was won by Northrop Grumman instead of Boeing.
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16 Apr 2008
Chief Boeing Backer in Congress Trying to Discredit Northrop Grumman's Win
The Hill, an influential Capitol Hill newspaper, is reporting that a chief Boeing backer in Congress is using a classified CIA briefing to try and discredit Northrop Grumman's win of an Air Force contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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15 Apr 2008
Boeing Ad Spreads Misinformation, False Data
Boeing is at it again. Today, the company has taken out a costly full-page ad in The Washington Post in which it makes up numbers and relies on wholly-false data to claim that its losing bid to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers would cost less than Northrop Grumman's winning bid.
full article >
14 Apr 2008
KIRO's Interpretation Contrary to Other Media Analyses
Seattle's KIRO selectively interprets an independent report by the Teal Group to suggest that Boeing stands a good chance of persuading the Government Accountability Office to reverse Northrop Grumman's win of a contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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10 Apr 2008
Reuters notes Boeing's arguments about cost are a red herring
A Reuters report notes that a key aspect of Boeing's attempt to take away a contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers from Northrop Grumman is because the Air Force arbitrarily assigned higher anticipated costs to Boeing's bid.
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08 Apr 2008
Boeing buys advertising to spread misinformation
In a full-page newspaper advertising, today, Boeing is, once again, presenting a misleading story about why the Air Force selected Northrop Grumman's KC-45 -- America's New Tanker. The tag line is "Less capable, more costly." This is accurate - but only if applied to Boeing's losing bid.
full article >
07 Apr 2008
Boeing-area newspaper analysis: Boeing's arguments don't add up
Boeing's surrogates like to claim that Northrop Grumman's win of an Air Force contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers will mean job losses in the United States, but a newspaper deep in the heart of Boeing Country looks at these arguments–and find they don't add up.
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04 Apr 2008
Boeing escalates attack on U.S. Air Force
Boeing is escalating its attack on the integrity of the U.S. Air Force, which chose Northrop Grumman over Boeing to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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03 Apr 2008
Boeing continues misinformation campaign
Boeing, today, will hold a conference call to continue its misinformation campaign concerning the selection of Northrop Grumman to build America's New Tanker.
full article >
02 Apr 2008
Representatives Inslee and Tiahrt views misguided
Yesterday on C-SPAN, Representatives Jay Inslee of Washington and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas offered their views on why the Air Force shouldn't have decided Northrop Grumman's bid was superior to Boeing's for construction of America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.
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01 Apr 2008
Barack Obama responds to Air Force's choice of Northrop Grumman
In an appearance today in Wilkes Barre, PA, Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama responded to a question concerning the United States Air Force decision to award the contract to provide America's New Tanker to Northrop Grumman Corporation. The Chicago Tribune political
blog, The Swamp, highlighted the Senator's comments.
full article >
01 Apr 2008
Northrop Grumman responds to false claims of European job shifts
In a story in today's Mobile Press Register, a representative one of a handful of activist groups that held a Washington, DC press conference yesterday is quoted delivering one of Boeing's stock surrogate talking points regarding jobs. Although the Press Register provides a balanced report we feel it important not to allow such untruths to go uncorrected.
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31 Mar 2008
Boeing falsely claims Nortrop Grumman win will cause American job losses
Among the many falsehoods spread by Boeing and its allies in the wake of the Air Force decision to award Northrop Grumman Corporation the contract to build America's new tanker relates to jobs. Without any evidence whatsoever, Boeing has been attempting to stir up anger by claiming that American jobs will be lost.
full article >
27 Mar 2008
Media reports U.S. Air Force asks GAO to throw out most of Boeing's challenge
While Boeing continues to allege that Northrop Grumman's win of a contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers should be overturned because the bidding process was flawed, there is one significant question Boeing can't answer: If it didn't like the bidding process, why didn't it complain before the Air Force made its decision?
full article >
26 Mar 2008
Boeing launches misinformation campaign to thwart U.S. Air Force's decision
Northrop Grumman won the U.S. Air Force contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers, a triumph Boeing obviously cannot accept. Even though the U.S. Air Force determined that Northrop Grumman offered the superior product, rated better than Boeing in four of five evaluation criteria and has already built, flown and tested a tanker, Boeing manages to overlook those facts and instead has launched a misinformation campaign aimed at persuading members of Congress to intervene and thwart the deal.
full article >
25 Mar 2008
Corrections of retired Rear Admiral's misstatements and false assertions
In a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal criticizing the Journal for its endorsement of Northrop Grumman's winning bid to build the next generation of aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force, a retired Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy makes a staggering number of false statements about Northrop Grumman's win, his errors and dissembling taken straight from Boeing's playbook of disinformation. Retired Rear Admiral Paul W. Rohrer's mistakes, misstatements and false assertions are corrected here.
full article >
24 Mar 2008
Indian newspaper provides reality check on Boeing's "purely American" status
Today's Business Standard newspaper of India provides a reality check, courtesy of Boeing, on the ongoing tanker debate. Reporter Bupesh Bandari writes of Boeing's ambitious plans to step up its manufacturing overseas, citing the fact that, "In little over a year, Boeing has inked five agreements ... which will result in key components of its civilian and military aircraft being manufactured in India."
full article >
21 Mar 2008
Misstatement of Facts by Mark McGraw in the Washington Post
In today's issue of the Washington Post, Boeing Vice President for tanker programs Mark McGraw submits a letter to the editor, once again misstating the facts about the tanker program award selection. He writes that all Boeing wanted was a "fair shot," implying that the company only lost to Northrop Grumman because the process was flawed.
full article >
20 Mar 2008
Erroneous Statements by Opponents of Northrop Grumman
In an editorial published today, after meeting Wednesday with Senator Patty Murray, D-WA., and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-WA., The Seattle Times repeated several erroneous statements that are being made by opponents of Northrop Grumman's winning bid to construct the next generation of aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force. Those misstatements are corrected below.
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19 Mar 2008
Setting the record straight
In a letter to the editor of The New York Times published today criticizing the newspaper's editorial backing Northrop Grumman's winning bid for the KC-45A aerial tanker, Boeing Vice President Mark McGraw makes a number of false assertions about Northrop Grumman's bid, its qualifications for winning the contract, and how the bidding process worked. This document sets the record straight on McGraw's misstatements.
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