FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    Contact: Adriana Surfas
Friday, March 14, 2008                         (202) 225-3661    

DeLauro Presses Air Force for Answers on Tanker Contract

Washington , D.C.  – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) joined with members of the Connecticut delegation for an Air Force briefing on the source selection process for the KC-X Tanker Program. DeLauro had requested the briefing to get answers from the Air Force about how they made their decision to award the Tanker KC-X contract to Northup Grumman and foreign-based EADS Corp over American-based Boeing. 

Defense projects that have been outsourced to foreign countries have experienced significant delays and excessive cost overruns.  The Pentagon recently acknowledged that the current Marine One helicopter contract awarded to Lockheed Martin and its British-Italian Partner, AgustaWestland-Finmeccanica, is billions of dollars over budget.

"While I appreciate the Air Force's willingness to brief us on the tanker deal, I left only more certain that this was a poor acquisition decision.

“This country has long been a leader in innovative technology development, but we are outsourcing that capability, as well as jobs, and as a result losing our competitive edge. Aside from the outsourcing of key technology and jobs that we may not regain, I am mystified by the fact that, like the Marine One contract, the Air Force seems to have given little consideration to the security implications of allowing a foreign company to do this work. Additionally, they have no contingency plan for dealing with potential cost overruns and schedule delays – problems currently facing the presidential helicopter program. 

“It is deja vu all over again with the American worker, taxpayer and military likely to come out on the loosing end." 

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www.house.gov/delauro