It was obviously the Airforce itself who decided in favour of the Northrop/Grumman/EADS Plane. Considering the big advantage Boeing has as the "hometeam" the offer of the US/Euro Consortium must have been A LOT better.
I wonder how this fits into this "We support our troops" blabla if the protectionists demand the USAF to go 2nd class while they obviously prefer to drive Hondas, Toyotas and BMWs over Ford or GM.:rotfl:
Where have all those protestors have been when Northrop/Grumman/EADS was allowed to make a proposal??! Ah i guess noone believed they could win against the overwhelming Pro-Boeing lobby, what kind of competition is this?
I must say that i am deeply impressed by the objectivity and open-mindedness of the Airforce Officials who made this decision - simply based on operational requirements. The same was done in many european countries -many times- as they decided to buy American Planes like the F-4, F-16 and F-35. Personally i would have preferred Germany taking part in the F-35 program as it could replace both our old fighters and the ageing Tornado - unlike the Eurofighter even though its a formidable plane.
Anyway - a lot of middle class familes in Mobile, Alabama will be very happy about this decision. They will get some well-paid jobs in a promising joint venture, like the ones who already work for Mercedes, Thyssen-Krupp and BMW. Boeing can now close its 767 line and shift its workers and production capacity to the 787.
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