Pentagon Would Extend Tanker Deadline 60 Days

See Pentagon Would Extend Tanker Deadline 60 Days.

In addition to the possible bid by a Russian aircraft company on the KC-X, EADS evidently has the clout to have the Pentagon extend the deadline on the KC-X proposal deadline.

EADS wants an additional 90 days, the Pentagon has indicated that the deadline would be extended by 60 days if EADS promises to bid against Boeing.

EADS had reversed its original decision to not submit a bid after Northrop Grumman withdrew from the KC-X competition.

Northrop Grumman was not willing to submit a proposal, as it did not have the clout to prevent the requirements from being written to favor the smaller tanker that Boeing will be proposal.

Northrop decided not to submit a proposal because Wes Bush did not want to expend resources.


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Russian company expected to bid on Air Force refueling tanker

See Russian company expected to bid on Air Force refueling tanker.

Now that Northrop Grumman has decided not to compete for the KC-X against Boeing, a Russian company will be proposing its tanker design based on the Russian Ilyushin Il-96, a four-engine commercial airliner.

This is a Russian-state owned aerospace company, United Aircraft Corporation. It will create a joint venture between a still to be announced U.S. contract company and UAC-America.

Nothing but the best for our American fighting forces.

15 great leadership questions

See 15 great leadership questions.

How many of THESE questions has your manager EVER asked YOU?

At Northrop Grumman, many of the managers are sent to some kind of manager "charm school" to make them more "manager-like".

Unfortunately, being trained to be a good manager is NOT good training to be a good leader.

Take a look at these questions and think about how often your manager has asked you ANY of them.

(I am willing to bet that you won't be able to answer with more than ten, five, three, . . .)

1.”What can I do to make you more effective?”

2. What’s keeping you from falling asleep at night?

3. What one thing should I do more? (or one thing I should do less?)

4. What roadblocks are holding you back? (or preventing your projects from moving ahead?)

5. What’s the most important issue you are dealing with right now?

6. What do our competitors do better than us?

7. If you were in my job, what’s the first thing you would you do?

8. What do we do better than anyone else?

9. How can I improve your team’s productivity?

10. What are the two key behaviors of our leadership team?

11. What one thing can we do to make our weekly meeting more effective?

12. What are your top three goals for next month?

13. What’s waking you up at 3:00 in the morning?

14. When you think about our goals, what are we forgetting?

15. If I could do just one thing for you as a result of this discussion, what would it be?

Of course, Northrop Grumman managers are not paid or budgeted time to work with their employees in such a manner as asking employees a bunch of silly questions that would make the employees be more effective (as opposed to efficient) and that might make employees feel that the company values the employees as human being instead of faceless cogs in a some kind of machine.

Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Pentagon says cost of new F-35 fighter jet will be double original estimates - latimes.com

Pentagon says cost of new F-35 fighter jet will be double original estimates - latimes.com

Northrop Grumman is only a subcontractor to prime contractor Lockheed-Martin on the F-35.

At one time, long ago, when it was merely the Northrop Aircraft Company, the company prided itself on "on-time" and "under-cost" fulfillment of its contracts.


Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Tanker Competition Drop Out

Northrop Grumman and its European partner EADS won the $35 billion Air Force tanker contract in February 2008.

Boeing protested this decision and had the decision overturned.

The Air Force then re-wrote the requirements for the tanker contract.

Northrop Grumman has now dropped out of the tanker competition.

EADS has also dropped out of the tanker competition.

Wes Bush decided that Northrop Grumman did not need to expend resources competing for a tanker contract that had its requirements re-written to favor the smaller Boeing tanker designer.

UPDATE: I must assume that Wes Bush does not believe that Northrop Grumman has the clout to protest the eventual decision if/when Boeing wins the KC-X contract. Northrop Grumman has already shown that it doesn't have the clout to uphold its February 2008 win of the original KC-X proposal against Boeing's subsequent protest.

Disclaimer: SORRY - This is only what I know from my point of view. No lies, just what I see as the truth.

Five Weeks Today

Five weeks ago, January 26, was the date of open heart surgery.

Still slightly sore, still get tired easily.

Need to build up stamina - walking 25 minutes (not fast) a day.

Looking forward to resuming more "normal" activities.

No driving or heavy lifting for six weeks. Will still take it easy.