Alabama senator sends scathing letter to Boeing chairman

In a letter to Boeing Chairman James McNerney, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) urged the company’s top official to express disapproval of “offensive remarks” about Mobile, Ala., made recently by some Boeing representatives.

{mosads}Amid cutthroat competition for the Air Force’s new mid-air refueling tankers, Boeing officials said last week at an Air Force Association conference that Mobile could be a risky site for building the aircraft.

“To publicly assert that Mobile, Ala., is a risky choice to build the new Air Force tanker is ignorant and completely unfounded,” Shelby wrote to McNerney on Oct. 3. “Mobile has a proven track record of establishing world-class manufacturing operations.”

Boeing’s rival for the contract, Northrop Grumman, plans to assemble and modify its KC-30 tankers in Mobile. Northrop partnered with EADS North America, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, which also owns Airbus. The Northrop team’s offering is based on an Airbus 330.

Boeing is offering the 767 aircraft, which is being built in Everett, Wash., its longtime production base. The plane also would be modified for military use in Wichita, Kan.

During a news conference last Monday, Mark McGraw, Boeing’s vice president of tanker programs, showed an aerial photo of Brookley Field Industrial Complex in Mobile alongside pictures of Boeing’s factory in Everett and its finishing center in Wichita. McGraw was quoted in news reports as saying, “KC-30 production is still fundamentally in Europe with a site down in Mobile that’s still empty.”

McGraw also was quoted as saying that Northrop Grumman and EADS are going to have people in Mobile working on an airplane that they have never dealt with. “I think that translates into higher risk,” he said. The Hill did not attend the press conference.

The Mobile Press Register quoted another Boeing official, Gary Mears, as saying:

“You’ve got all these sections coming into Mobile with people who’ve never seen them before. It’s like being in the living room on Christmas morning, surrounded by boxes and you’re trying to put a tricycle together for the first time. It adds risk, and the Air Force is going to look at that.”

“I consider your company’s comments to be both inappropriate and grossly inaccurate in their characterization of the dedicated people of Mobile and Alabama,” Shelby, a strong supporter of EADS and Northrop, wrote to McNerney. “Given Boeing’s longstanding and large presence in the state’s aerospace and defense engineering economy, it is rather surprising that you would feel it newsworthy to denigrate the more than 3,000 Boeing workers currently employed in our state.”

Shelby added that Mobile has a proven track record of “establishing world-class manufacturing operations.” It was chosen in May as the site for a $3.7 billion German manufacturing and processing steel plant and is home to a large shipbuilding industry, including construction of the U.S. Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship, he added.

“The comments made last week were not directed at the skills or dedication of Alabama’s workforce,” Boeing’s tanker spokesman, Bill Barksdale, said. “The comments were intended to describe the technical and schedule risks associated with setting up any new assembly operation versus using an existing and proven assembly line. Offering an existing production facility and an experienced workforce would be a low risk to the Air Force.” Barksdale added that Boeing has a long-term commitment to Alabama.

Shelby concluded his letter: “I would hope that you would disavow the offensive remarks about Mobile and that in the future you will ensure that your company avoids publicly demeaning Alabama’s highly qualified workforce, including your own.”