![](http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff499/redmder/FR/FRnewsWhereWouldYouGo.gif?t=1319334229";)
Posted on 01/07/2012 6:32:53 AM PST by bobsunshine
The United States Air Force is facing questions from Hawker Beechcraft Corp. after a recent GAO decision effectively removed them from the running in a bid to build our next generation of light attack aircraft....
Hawker Beechcraft, which has been excluded by the U.S. Air Force from competing for a contract to supply a new light attack aircraft, is fighting mad and fighting back. The Wichita-based manufacturer of business jets and turboprops filed suit yesterday with the Court of Federal Claims following notification that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) declined to review its protest of the Air Force decision, which was made public in November. The company’s AT-6 light attack variant of the T-6 turboprop trainer was previously considered a front-runner in the competition for a contract valued at nearly $1 billion, and Hawker Beechcraft and its partners in the AT-6 say they have invested more than $100 million preparing for the competition. .....
If the company is out of the race, the only remaining competitor is listed as being Sierra Nevada Corp.based in Nevada. The problem with that, however, is that critics have noted that Sierra Nevada is more of a front company and the actual manufacturer would be Brazilian-based Embraer, manufacturer of the Super Tucano, which would take the place of the AT-6.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
No they do not, they have the other horse saddled and ready to ride. Never saying why would a country leading the world in drone development want to buy such an aircraft.
You can’t even make that case. The T-6 Texan II is actually a Swiss design that would be built under license in the US by a half Canadian company.
The US military has bought Beech aircraft almost continuously since their beginning. They are still purchasing as we speak, so to speak. When it comes to Aircraft there are not many ways to dilute unless your desire is to go out of business.
Obama HATES the large defense contractors.
So do his key Acquisition Czars.
Is Hawker “large”?
No, but it is an established defense contractor.
That’s part of the American industrial base Obama wants to kill.
Really IMHO not a bad idea, especially with turbo prop late model engine.
No American military hardware should be manufactured outside of this country. Its ridiculous.
I too would like to blame King Obama but a friend of mine, who is a retired USMC general and Marine aviator, told me that the sale was made in return for Brazil buying F/A-18s from us.
Buy American has become Bye American under this administration.
The history of this contract was that the Air Force and Navy started working on a tactics development project for use in Afghanistan using a few leased Embraers. They were ready to deploy in the Summer of 2010 when the Kansas congressional delegation put a stop to the project and demanded a fly off. The subsequent RFP called for a ready to use, non-developmental, aircraft. Remember, they wanted to deploy these aircraft a year and a half ago. Hawker Beech is still pouring money into the T-6, which practically got a no bid contract for the new Iraqi Air Force.
As far as "buy American" goes, the Tucano is a brazilian manufactured, American assembled kit, using an American FLIR, with a Canadian engine. The AT-6 is a licensed design from Pilatus, manufactured in Kansas, with a Canadian FLIR, and the same Canadian engine. The fact that Beech has poured $100 million into development shows that their aircraft is not ready for use. One of the key factors would be no actual data on how the aircraft will hold up to the stress of delivery of wing mounted stores.
Tucano is the plane that is ready now and the plane the pilots in this program want.
Boeing pitched an updated Bronco, but remember the Air Force called for a ready to use aircraft.
Perhaps you’d be happy with that.
Then I guess we need to pull those Martin Baker ejection seats out of every US fighter aircraft.
And what horse would that be?
The tin foil hat, conspiracy one.
The Airforce and Marines already have hundreds of Broncos, which is a better plane for the mission than the Super T, stored in Tucson Az. Those planes could be put into service of weeks. Can’t get any more ready than that. There are enough airframes to select the best ones for immediate deployment and send others out to be re-manufactured into an upgraded variant. New production could follow as necessary. No use wasting too much money on these types of aircraft . It’s better to have lots of planes at as inexpensively as possible because as soon as even the Taliban stone age types in the Pashtun get even the most rudimentary shoulder launched SAMs they are toast. FWIW, there are about 10,000 French made Libyan SAMs that went missing and and now in the hands of Iran or terrorists
You can bet many parts will be supplied by the Chinese.
Just the electronic parts with extra features.
“Then I guess we need to pull those Martin Baker ejection seats out of every US fighter aircraft.”
No we just need to start manufacturing them in the US from now on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.