Well goddamn, we need to attack someone--or foment a war so some serious attacking is undertaken. Sheesh! There's American jobs at stake!!
One of the nation's biggest defense contractors is launching a lobbying campaign this week to save a fleet of armored vehicles from getting the ax due to military spending cuts.
BAE Systems and dozens of its suppliers are pressing lawmakers to allow a Pennsylvania plant to continue producing Bradley fighting vehicles, even though production is slated to be put on hold by the Pentagon for three years, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
“Every single piece of equipment affected by the drawdown will see some sort of street fight to keep the production lines open,” said Gordon Adams, a former White House budget official and now an international relations professor at American University. “This is a classic service-contractor duel.”
BAE is worried that the government will ultimately retire the production of the armored vehicles, as the Army cuts the size of its force in the coming years from 562,000 personnel to 490,000. The move would lead to heavy layoffs and hit hundreds of suppliers throughout the United States.
“If we don’t find a way to mitigate the shutdown between now and midsummer, we are reaching ... the line of no return,” said Mark Signorelli, BAE’s vice president of vehicle systems.
The company has successfully averted earlier attempts by the Army to cut back on the Bradley line by convincing Congress to override Pentagon spending decisions. This time, they still have some support.
WacoFan wrote:Flying any airplane that you can hear the radio over the roaring radial engine is just ghey anyway.... Of course, Cirri are the Miata of airplanes..
LTS TRN 2 wrote:Well goddamn, we need to attack someone--or foment a war so some serious attacking is undertaken. Sheesh! There's American jobs at stake!!
One of the nation's biggest defense contractors is launching a lobbying campaign this week to save a fleet of armored vehicles from getting the ax due to military spending cuts.
BAE Systems and dozens of its suppliers are pressing lawmakers to allow a Pennsylvania plant to continue producing Bradley fighting vehicles, even though production is slated to be put on hold by the Pentagon for three years, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
“Every single piece of equipment affected by the drawdown will see some sort of street fight to keep the production lines open,” said Gordon Adams, a former White House budget official and now an international relations professor at American University. “This is a classic service-contractor duel.”
BAE is worried that the government will ultimately retire the production of the armored vehicles, as the Army cuts the size of its force in the coming years from 562,000 personnel to 490,000. The move would lead to heavy layoffs and hit hundreds of suppliers throughout the United States.
“If we don’t find a way to mitigate the shutdown between now and midsummer, we are reaching ... the line of no return,” said Mark Signorelli, BAE’s vice president of vehicle systems.
The company has successfully averted earlier attempts by the Army to cut back on the Bradley line by convincing Congress to override Pentagon spending decisions. This time, they still have some support.
“It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.”