Beechcraft Corporation today issued the following statement regarding the Administration overriding congressional review of the Light Air Support (LAS) contract for Afghanistan.
When it comes to producing aircraft that will help Americans come home from Afghanistan, the U.S. Air Force today concluded that America’s “best interest” now rests on the shoulders of Brazil. This decision is very misguided. It will lead to the loss of American jobs and substantially higher costs to American taxpayers.
By invoking this override procedure to outsource American defense jobs, the definitions of national security and the protection of the U.S. aerospace industrial base have been turned upside down. Moreover, the Air Force’s decision to bypass the normal GAO review process deprives the American taxpayer of transparent answers to legitimate and well-documented questions to what has been a very opaque LAS acquisition.
The correct decision would be to protect our national security interest by selecting the lower cost, American-made aircraft that the Air Force rated “Exceptional” and one that is built around an airframe, weapons and systems that are familiar to, and under the control of, the United States military.
Beechcraft will review its options, with the goal of helping protect U.S. best interests and the Afghanistan Air Force, to reverse this misguided action.
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