Tanker Decision is an outrage!

The Pentagon announced on Friday that Boeing would not be awarded a $40 billion Air Force contract to produce the next generation of tanker aircraft. The decision to have 179 tankers built by a team led by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS), parent company of Airbus, is an outrage.

The Pentagon has effectively jeopardized 44,000 American jobs. It’s a very real loss to the industrial base. It harms American national security

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Tanker Decision is an outrage!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am outraged at the decision of the Air Force to order the next generation of tanker aircraft from a consortium headed by the EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.

This decision makes no sense for our economy and our national defense.

This decision means that billions of American taxpayer dollars will be used to create and sustain jobs--in Europe!

This makes no sense at all. __________________________

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 03, 2008


Background Information

  • The Pentagon announced on Friday that Boeing would not be awarded a $40 billion Air Force contract to produce the next generation of tanker aircraft.
  • The Pentagon has effectively jeopardized 44,000 American jobs. It’s a very real loss to the industrial base.” EADS-Northrop will use American workers only for assembly.
  • The program was expected to create 9,000 jobs in Washington state and about 600 jobs in Kansas.
    This decision is about whether U.S workers or European workers will produce the aircraft used as tankers for the U.S. Air Force for decades in the future.
  • Boeing has experience building tankers. Airbus has none. This is about more than keeping jobs in America. It’s about relying on a company with the proven ability to do the job.
  • The competition was mandated in 2003, allowing a heavily subsidized European manufacturer, EADS, to bid against Boeing, a U.S. firm that received no subsidies.
  • How can we guarantee that supplies from EADS will continue to flow to the United States if those countries do not agree with America’s foreign policy


      • “The decision means billions of taxpayer dollars will be used to create and sustain jobs in foreign countries, rather than here in the United States. Giving this contract to EADS further hollows out America’s industrial base and rewards a company that has already used $100 million in European government subsidies to grab nearly 50 percent of the U.S. commercial aircraft market.”
      --IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger.


      “I am very disappointed for our members and all employees at The Boeing Company.  I’m surprised the Air Force chose an unproven technology and an inferior product for this important program that supports the men and women in our armed forces.” -
      - SPEEA President Cynthia Cole.