As we reported in January, the U.S. Air Force has been considering two bids to replace the country’s aging fleet of air tankers. The process came down to two—Boeing’s KC-767 and the KC-30 from French manufacturer Airbus/EADS. It seems that American appeals to keep defense contracts in the United States have fallen on deaf ears.
Late last week, the Air Force announced that it had passed up Boeing’s offer, instead awarding the contract to the European conglomerate. It was a slap in the face to Boeing, which has proudly supplied the U.S. military for nearly 75 years. And this decision should offend all taxpayers who will now see their hard-earned money shipped overseas to support the economies of Western Europe. The American economy, teetering on the brink of a recession, will lose out on thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of new investment.
American parts and American workers must be used to supply the U.S. military—it seems obvious to us and countless other hard-working, patriotic Americans.
