By Jen DiMascio
The president of Boeing [BA] Integrated Defense Systemslast week sent a letter to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), suggesting comments made about a new plant in Mobile were misinterpreted.
On Oct. 3, Shelby sent Boeing President James McNerney a letter asking him to “disavow” offensive statements made by Boeing officials during the recent Air Force Association conference in Washington.
The exchange of letters is the latest outburst in a fierce competition for the Air Force’s next aerial refueling tanker. Boeing and a team comprised of Northrop Grumman [NOC] and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. are vying for the chance to build the KC-X airplane, bolstering their bid submissions with intensive lobbying, advertising and public relations efforts.
The comments in question suggested Northrop Grumman’s plan to build an assembly plant in Alabama would bring with it more risk.
According to a report in the Mobile Press Register, a Boeing official said this about the competition: “You’ve got all these sections coming into Mobile with people who’ve never seen them before,” the official said. “It’s like being in the living room on Christmas morning, surrounded by boxes and you’re trying to put a tricycle together for the first time. It adds risk, and the Air Force is going to look at that.”
Shelby expressed surprise that Boeing would make such a statement when in 2003 it considered Mobile a finalist in its search for the 787 Dreamliner’s assembly plant.
“To publicly assert that Mobile, Alabama is a risky choice to build the new Air Force tanker is ignorant and completely unfounded,” Shelby wrote. “Mobile has a proven track record of establishing world-class manufacturing operations.”
Albaugh said in his response that he wanted to reply as soon as possible for an out-of-country McNerney.
He did not take back the comments by Boeing officials but provided additional context.
“If comments made last week were in any way taken to be a lack of confidence in the workforce, it was not intended,” Albaugh said, noting that Boeing is the largest aerospace company in the state.
Albaugh reiterated the point he said was intended by officials during AFA–that producing a tanker at Boeing’s existing facility in Everett, Wash., would be lower risk than Northrop Grumman’s plan to build an assembly facility in Alabama that did not exist today.
“Despite the fact that final assembly would be performed by very capable Alabamans, we believe this overall approach presents increased risk in meeting the Air Force’s requirements, and that this higher risk would be the case in any new facility located in any state.”
Albaugh’s response misses the point, Shelby said in a statement.
“An assertion has been made by Boeing that any industrial solution for the tanker recapitalization program manufactured in a new site in Alabama is inherently risky. Its statement has no foundation in fact and is unsupported by historical performance,” Shelby wrote. “Perhaps Boeing’s time would be better spent delivering its two year-delayed tankers to Italy and Japan as opposed to inaccurately depicting the workforce in Mobile and focusing on the imagined shortcomings of its competitor.”