Posted on 02/17/2017 2:41:31 PM PST by RoosterRedux
Days before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump made two surprise calls to the Air Force general managing the Pentagon’s largest weapons program, the Lockheed Martin F-35 jet.
Listening in on one of those calls was Dennis Muilenburg — the CEO of Lockheed’s chief rival, Boeing.
Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the $379 billion F-35 program as “out of control,” made the highly unusual calls to Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan on Jan. 9 and Jan. 17. Muilenburg, whose company makes a fighter jet Trump has suggested might be an alternative to the F-35, was in Trump’s New York office for a meeting during the second call. He appeared caught off-guard but was able to listen in on the call, according to two people familiar with the calls, who asked to remain anonymous discussing sensitive information.
“I would consider the calls to be very straightforward. He asked a lot of very, very, very good questions because he was in the learning mode,” Bogdan said of Trump. Speaking to reporters Thursday after a congressional hearing on the F-35, Bogdan said that Muilenburg’s listening to the call “was not inappropriate. The things I talked about in front of Mr. Muilenburg were clearly publicly releasable information. I understand the rules.”
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
No doubt. And the LA Times has reporters assigned to the LA ports, LAX, Hollywood etc...
Bull f’in chit.
The memories fade......
oh boy...some RAT somewhere is going to make a big deal out of this....
That they do. I blame it on... well, never mind. The old grey cells, ain’t what they used to be.
Pierre Sprey — the man in the 10 minute video at the link — is one of the guys who designed the A-10, the BEST ground support aircraft in history. Also on the F16 team.
My guess is that Trump is aware of the PROBLEMS with the F35 and may be looking for EFFECTIVE cost saving alternatives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um0VCH3Z044
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxwimwf4Lww
There are several other interviews with Sprey nearby.
Auburn sux.
Just kidding...UGA here.
Let Lockheed and Boeing fight it out.
They will suddenly care how much money they save the Pentagon. No more multi million dollar contracts going to the highest bidder.
Are you aware of how to view this episode online? I would love to see it.
Thats ok Rooster. GA rival since 1892 (or somewhere close to that).
The tradition of the first War Eagle flying started during that time.
1. USA spends TONS of money to have a qualitative edge on Chinese
2. Companies hire Chinese engineers
3. China gets the tech
4. China builds similar stuff, closing the gap with blinding speed
5. USA company goes back to the taxpayer, “We need tons of new money to get back the qualitative superiority and keep Iowa Farm boy pilots safe..!”
6. USA company gets a bunch of new money
HOW DO US COMPANIES HAVE AN INTEREST IN MAINTAINING SECURITY...?
Sloppy security —> tons of money
Good security —> less money
Which one would most CEO’s chose...?
The answer is obvious and this game is getting really tiring.
May want to bump that up to billion$ deals.
There are tons of Trump video uploaders on youtube. You just need to search for them. I finally saw the entire Trump speech from yesterday (damn, 1 hour 47 minutes but it was better than any movie lol) on Youtube.
Boeing; Douglas; McDonnell; McDonnell-Douglas; Boeing
Northrop; Grumman; Northrop-Grumman
Lockheed; Glenn L. Martin; Lockheed-Martin
Consolidated Acft; Vultee; Consolidated-Vultee; General Dynamics
Fairchild, Hiller, Chase, Republic; Fairchild-Hiller; Fairchild-Chase; Fairchild-Republic
North American Aviation; Rockwell; North American-Rockwell
I’m sure I left out some.
Vought - Boeing, or at least a sub in SC if memory serves.
Could be. Vought became Chance-Vought after the war. I don’t know what became of it after that.
My 1000 hour Grumman plaque was engraved with dark print, legible. My 2000 hour Northrup Grumman plaque was not legible.
But the Grumman & Northrup Grumman engineers saved my ass dozens of times. Hard landings? Grumman trash can fall like a turd off a tall moose, miss a wire, and be airborne again like a champ. Leaking HYD fluid like normal on you to let you know that you didn’t mess up the HYD systems (2).
I think the Boeing guy should have not participated in those calls for ethical reasons. He might have a problem if there are future competitions between firms now (and there will be).
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