JUNE 19, 2008 (503) 307-3851

Dave Brownlow For U.S. Senate
Boeing Has Earned the Right to
Air Force Tanker Contract

Clackamas, OR – DAVE BROWNLOW, Candidate for U.S. Senate, comments on GAO report that questions the Air Force $100 billion Airbus/Northrop tanker contract.

Over the last fifty years, Boeing has built or upgraded over 2,000 operational air-refueling tankers to various militaries around the world. The Airbus/Northrop consortium, which recently won the bid for the initial 167 tankers, has yet to deliver their first one.

The decision to purchase tankers from a foreign consortium - that never built a tanker before - is wrong for many reasons. Here are just a few:

Sending a $100 billion military contract to France is bad for the American taxpayer.
The lack of any Airbus/Northrop track record injects unnecessary risks into the program.
National security could be compromised by international events we do not control.
The Boeing KC-767 is less expensive to buy and maintain than the Airbus KC-30.
The Boeing KC-767 burns less lifetime fuel than the Airbus KC-30.
The nearly 50,000 jobs this program would create belong in America, not in France.

BROWNLOW said, “Boeing has been providing reliable military aircraft since the days my father was a B-17 tail gunner during thirty missions over Germany in 1944 – often safely landing in severely damaged planes. Many lives have been saved over the years, due to the reliability and robustness of their aircraft. Boeing has earned the right to this tanker contract.”

BROWNLOW added, “That being said, there is a better solution to this $100 billion dilemma. We would have little need for hundreds of new air refueling tankers if our empire did not expand over 700 military bases in 130 of the world’s 192 countries. We need to return our military to the constitutionally authorized role of providing for the common defense of the states.”

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DAVE BROWNLOW FOR U.S. SENATE
P.O. Box 2965
Clackamas, OR 97015
(503) 307-3851