Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) says it is “disconcerting” that one arm of the US government—the Pentagon—would disagree with another arm—the US Trade Representative. He was speaking at Wednesday’s bipartisan press conference called to urge the Pentagon to reconsider shunning the World Trade Organization’s recent interim ruling over illegal subsidies to Airbus, maker of the basic airframe that Northrop Grumman proposes for the KC-X. (Brownback release) Also at the press event, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), said she wants to tell Washington aerospace workers who would help build a Boeing tanker that “they are competing on a level playing field.” (Murray release) Northrop supporters earlier this week also bemoaned the current KC-X competition for being canted in Boeing’s favor and suggested the Pentagon might want to reconsider a split buy.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
