Last week, the Air Force signed a production contract with Boeing for a new line of “smart” Small Diameter Bombs. Only 250 pounds each, they will quadruple the weapon load on Boeing’s F-15E Strike Eagle and allow planning times of less than one minute per mission. Expected to be deployed in 2006, Boeing SDB Program Manager Dan Jaspering says it " is very accurate. In 21 flight tests, SDB has demonstrated its capabilities against real targets with unprecedented accuracy." www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q2/nr_050422n.html i-newswire.com/pr16683.html

When asked about “unprecedented accuracy,” Boeing’s listed contact Chris Haddox said the average was within 5’, but did not sound too sure. Questions now occur, such as does 1,000’ to right and 1,005’ to left equal an average of 5’ in Boeing’s calculations? What exactly is the test data? What were the testing parameters? Please help find answers.

Contact:
Chris Haddox
Boeing Air Force Systems
( 314 ) 234-6447 ( office )
( 314 ) 707-8891 ( cell )
chris.d.haddox (at) boeing.com


BOEING BLOWS
The SDB was conceived in October, 2001, when Boeing and Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin each received $47m to develop plans for the new bomb. In October, 2003, Boeing won and was awarded an $188m cost-plus contract to provide for the SDB system development and demonstration. Prototype testing was completed to the satisfaction of the Air Force. Then, on Feb. 18, 2005, the Government Accountability Office, Congress's investigative arm, reported that Army procurement officer Darleen Druyun saw to changes in the SDB’s technical requirements and the deletion of related evaluation criteria. The changes were made to favor Boeing over Lockheed during the procurement process. At the time, Druyun was negotiating with Boeing for a $250,000-a-year vice president position she eventually started in December 2002. Druyun is now serving a nine-month prison term for a conflict-of-interest law violation. Last week, the Air Force decided to contract with Boeing for production of 201 SDB’s and 35 carriages despite the faulty specifications. The new line of bombs may bring Boeing $2.7B with additional purchases. So it goes. The GAO recommends the Air Force conduct competitive procurement for the program's second phase, which requires the SDB to hit moving targets in addition to fixed ones, which was where Lockheed originally had an advantage over Boeing before the specifications were changed. www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/sdb.htm www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml

Boeing is facing large fines over two bigger procurement scandals. The company's illegal hiring of Druyun was linked to the $23 billion deal for 100 of Boeing’s 767 tankers (Michael Sears, ex-Boeing Chief Financial Officer is doing a four-month sentence for his part), and the possession of Lockheed documents used to win a rocket contract.

Also announced last week, the Army reluctantly bowed to Congressional pressure to place the contract for its Future Combat System under more stringent cost and disclosure requirements and conflict-of-interest safeguards. Boeing is lead contractor for the FCS, the service's “linchpin to the 21st-century.” Expected to be operable by 2016, four years later than originally anticipated, it is now expected to cost as much as $133 billion, up about 45 percent from the $92 billion price tag the Army was estimating as recently as a year ago. One Senate staff member said any added costs to the program could further anger lawmakers, some of whom already are pressing for reductions in the FCS budget. “Cost climbs on Army's contract with Boeing” www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.boeing30apr30,1,5952220.story

As it stands today, Boeing is flying on automatic pilot. Former CEO Phil Condit resigned in December 2003 over the tanker scandal, then his replacement Harry Stonecipher stunned observers in February when he stepped down over an affair with a woman executive.


BOEING STOCK HITS 4 YEAR HIGH, IDS PROFITS SOAR
Last week, Boeing stock hit its highest level since 2001. Boeing’s first quarter results showed it’s Integrated Defense Systems business, the defense, space, and intelligence arm of its empire, had a 15 percent increase in operating income (to $847m) on a 2 percent increase in sales (to $7.5B). IDS sales represented 58% of the company's total for the quarter. Interim Chief Executive James Bell was very pleased during a conference call with investors, who were equally pleased based on the soaring stock price. english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4B9FBB02-BEB1-4C28-8F7E-AC7D2BE6C790.htm www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-boeing28.html



BOEING WORKERS WARNED
During the talk with investors, Bell warned that Boeing workers in Wichita, facing wage cuts and possible job losses from a pending acquisition deal by Canadian firm Onex, could face bigger job losses if they reject the deal and stay with Boeing. He reiterated the fate of Boeing workers in the Puget Sound area are in doubt pending a Pentagon study on the need for new Air Force tankers in the wake of the Druyun scandal. "Without some additional orders, the 767 tanker line will be shut down and it will be down for many, many months at best," warned Boeing defense division chief James Albaugh. seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002255615_boeing28.html



BOEING FAILS DEMOCRACY
Yesterday, at Boeing’s annual shareholder meeting, for the fifth straight year, a majority of stockholders approved measures calling on the company to eliminate its supermajority vote on some shareholder issues, and to place every director up for election every year. Shareholders approved the measures by 65% and 66%, respectively, but the proposals will not be implemented because of Boeing’s 70% supermajority requirement. So it goes. In protest to the board’s refusal to adopt the two proposals, Boeing shareholder withheld nearly 30% of the votes tendered for three of four directors up for election, company chairman Lewis Platt, W. James McNerney, Jr., CEO of 3M Company, and Kenneth Duberstein, ex-chief of staff to Ronald Reagan (the 4th director, new to the Board, was spared and received 90% approval). The 70% approval was probably a record low for any Boeing director. chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl


THE NEW AMERICAN MILITARISM: HOW AMERICANS ARE SEDUCED BY WAR (2005)
The Normalization of War
www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/04/bacevich.html
Highly protective of their own core institutional interests, senior military officers have demonstrated considerable skill at waging bureaucratic warfare, manipulating the media, and playing off the executive and legislative branches of government against each other to get what they want. The resulting fractious, at times even dysfunctional relationship between the top brass and civilian political leaders is one of Washington’s dirty little secrets- recognized by all of the inside players, concealed from an electorate that might ask discomfiting questions about who is actually in charge.

In 2002, American defense spending exceeded by a factor of twenty-five the combined defense budgets of the seven "rogue states" then comprising the roster of U.S. enemies. Indeed, by some calculations, the United States spends more on defense than all other nations in the world together. This is a circumstance without historical precedent. Furthermore, in all likelihood, the gap in military spending between the United States and all other nations will expand further still in the years to come.

The Neocon Revolution and American Militarism www.motherjones.com/news/dailymojo/2005/04/neocon_revolution.html
Five current American convictions related to military power and its uses: First, the certainty that American global dominion is, in fact, benign and that other nations necessarily see it as such. Second, failure on the part of the United States to sustain its imperium would inevitably result in global disorder, bloody, bitter, and protracted. Third, nothing works like force. Fourth, a commitment to sustaining and even enhancing American military supremacy. Fifth, especially true with Neocons, hostility toward realism, whether manifesting itself as a deficit of ideals or an excess of caution.


BOMBS AWAY
Congressional switchboard (202) 225-3121.
Calls to reduce military spending are rarely heard by members of Congress.

"Of all the enemies of public liberty, War is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies. From these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, debts and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. . . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." James Madison, 1795.


THE IRAQ QUAGMIRE
Congress aims to complete a final version of the $81 billion Iraq-Afghanistan 2005 Supplemental Appropriations bill. It’s just about a done deal. Members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are working to complete a conference report, expected any moment. The House may vote as early as Wednesday, with the Senate to follow upon its return from the recess next week. www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0505/050205cdam1.htm www.afsc.org/iraq/congress-call.htm