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Comment by BlueTankEngine | Hacker News Reader

This article is a malicious misrepresentation of the facts.

https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/boeing-delivers-14-k...

Is this tanker program 7 years late in delivery? Yes. But Boeing has eaten the entire $5 Billion dollars of cost overruns, as the contract for these planes is fixed price. In addition, the reason the plane is 7 years late is absolutely not due to the boom control mechanism, but more so the fueling system.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/32818/the-air-force-ha...

Because of the strict procurement laws we have in the USA, instead of the tax-payer taking huge losses on the program, Boeing shareholders have eaten the cost. I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

Also the idea that after the prosecution of Druyun Boeing was favored is simply a lie.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125383323357539115

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The "author" started the blog one day after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the theme in many of the articles is the usual triad of arguments from Russian bots:

- The West is to blame, Russia is innocent!

- Russia is strong! Western sanctions can't hurt Russia!

- Western sanctions are provoking Russia and will lead to nuclear WW3!

As an European with many Polish and Ukrainian friends I'm happy that isolationist American techno-libertarians are confined to Hacker News and r/Conspiracy. It would be a terrifying world if American libertarians had a say in foreign policy and defense policy.

I definitely get a libertarian feel from people on Hacker News, but not an isolationist one. Also it does seem like a strange move to pigeonhole and insult the group of people with whom you're trying to interact.

It would be a much better world for most Americans if the government wasn't spending lives and billions of dollars policing countries 6000+ miles away on behalf of other countries and foreign interests. Calling people who don't want to waste American lives and resources over Ukrainian soil to allow Poland and Germany a russia free buffer zone "russian bots" is a joke, most sane Americans don't want war over who gets to be installed as the leader of Ukraine for this decade.

The "author" is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Cockburn. You can remove the quotes now

I think you are misrepresenting the article. Its main argument is that the remote visual guidance system for the boom initially didn't work as intended and the fix is still in progess. Are you implying that is wrong?

It’s very strange that the author go lengths to demonstrate how remote systems doesn’t work, just to, at the end, inadvertently providing an exemple where it works wonderfully (moral questions aside).

The ending made little sense. Some of the facts of the article may be correct, but the flow of logic was odd.

I would say the main argument of the article is that the US Military Industrial Complex is corrupt and that the taxpayer is getting scammed by corrupt procurement officials into paying for things they don't need. I feel like this is pretty clearly a persuasive piece.

> Because of the strict procurement laws we have in the USA, instead of the tax-payer taking huge losses on the program, Boeing shareholders have eaten the cost. I fail to see how this is a bad thing.

So the failure to deliver a product in the agreed upon timeline is a good thing? The delay is having knock-on effects with capacity:

> TRANSCOM: Refueling Capacity a Major Shortfall, Made Worse by KC-46 Delays

* https://www.airforcemag.com/transcom-refueling-capacity-a-ma...

> More problems with Air Force’s new tanker could put the squeeze on the Pentagon’s refueling capabilities, TRANSCOM chief says

* https://taskandpurpose.com/news/kc-46-tanker-problems-pentag...

All your points are valid and appreciated. I am stunned that she still keeps her government pension though.

The article states that leasing caused an increase of $10B over non-leasing, so isn't Boeing still reeling in $5B more profit than necessary? I mean $5B is a drop in the bucket, but it still seems like needless waste.

But it's on substack it must be true!

> But it's on substack it must be true!

Honestly, at this point seeing *.substack.com is a red flag, just like seeing *.blogspot.com.

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