Cancellation of U.S. Air Force Tanker Program Essay

Cancellation of U.S. Air Force Tanker Program - Essay Example The program however has difficulty getting off the ground and had undergone several calls for Requests for Proposals (RFPs) as controversies and contentious issues regarding contracts and acquisitions had long riddled. In 2004, the program was compelled to shut down when the main players in the negotiation were revealed to be involved in highly unethical issues and in 2008, the program was re-shelved one more time as one of the parties in the negotiations filed a bidding protest with GAO. At present, the AF prepares for its third attempt to hold a bidding of the project. The US Air Force tankers are aircrafts whose primary function is to refuel other aircrafts like fighters, bombers, surveillance aircrafts and other planes used by the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps while those aircrafts are airborne. The importance of the tankers is that they obviously give US aircrafts power even beyond US borders because they allow these aircrafts to go longer distances and prolong their airborne time. Aerial fueling capability therefore is of critical importance to the country to sustain its superior aerial firefighting and firepower capability in the world (O’Rourke 2009 1). The present tanker fleet of the US Air Force consists of 453 KC-135 Stratotankers (see Fig. 1) built by Boeing, many of which were acquired by the Air Force (AF hereafter) as early as 1957 with the latest batch acquired in 1967. The average age of the Stratotankers is 47 years old. A much younger model, the KC-10 was also acquired by the AF in 1981 but there are only 59 of them (O’Rourke 2009 2-3). US policymakers had been concerned with the ageing state of the Stratotankers since the 1990s but it wan in 2002 that concrete steps were taken to remedy the situation. US Congress passed the Leasing Authority Act 2002 which authorized the AF to lease 100 Boeing 767s for a period not more than ten years and modify them into aerial fuel tankers. The

European System of Balance of Power Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

European System of Balance of Power - Article Example France was very much afraid of Germany after WWI. During the treaty of Versailles, they made their point. After the WWI the French economy weakened day by day. Their demands include the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, financial and military aid by League of Nations in case of the German attack and should have French control over left bank of the Rhine Republic and Saar. Finally, it has been said that the French asked too much and pushed the Germans to a corner. The US, on the other hand, helped the European community by giving financial aid. They helped the Germans to come out of the financial crisis. The US realized the importance of the United Nations and convinced its allies and enemies to join the group. After centuries of bloodshed on the continent, with reconstruction after WWII financed by the American Marshall plan and protection provided by the American military during the Cold War, old adversaries in Europe achieved reconciliation and integration. Americans see a Germany that was wounded in WWI, destroyed in WWII, and then rehabilitated and protected (in the case of West Germany) in the post-war period thanks to American military might and American money. During the second half of 1944, the Nazi empire gradually imploded as its enemies invaded from east, west, and south. Supplies and manufacturing dwindled on a daily basis. The once mighty had some of the best military aircraft in the world but lacked fuel to fly them and parts to maintain them. Evidence suggests that Chancellor Adolf Hitler himself became addicted to a variety of drugs and that he may also have suffered from syphilis, Parkinson's disease, or both.