In this letter, John McCain lobbies to remove the questionable European subsidies from consideration (they were a major strike against fairness of the Airbus offer), and he dismisses the importance of ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) rules, because these issues could interfere with Airbus bidding in the 100 billion dollar tanker contract. He also dismisses the Barry Amendment, which is in place to prevent the Department of Defense from procuring certain materials, like titanium, from foreign sources when domestic sources are available.
Yikes… I just read the letter, and I have to say, it certainly sounds like McCain was trying to make a case for the Airbus-based tanker. Was he just attempting to make the selection process competitive, or did he have have other motives in writing the letter? Was he trying to punish Boeing for its prior mistakes? Did he have any interest in seeing Northrop Grumman win the contract? I honestly don’t know the answers to those questions, nor am I in a position to speculate.
Keep it coming, Randy!