DarrylS

Find this baffling, the Navy is re engineering part of its fleet, and are developing littoral combat ships.. have been following this for some time, but today noticed on Pop Mechanics that an Australian company is competing with Lockheed Martin for the contract.. why do we even want to consider outsourcing this security need to a foreign country?? Nothing against Australia, but scratching my head.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tech...w/4272433.html


The U.S. Navy uses colors to describe where a ship is built to operate: Brown for rivers, blue for oceans and, recently, green for coastal, or littoral, waters. The Navy, traditionally focused on dominating oceans, does not have a vessel built to operate in green waters, so it is seeking a fast, shallow-keeled ship that can chase down enemies and dispatch helicopters with ease.

In 2002, the Navy solicited builders to design its Littoral Combat Ship. Australia-based Austal recently launched its contender, the 417-ft. Independence. Its trimaran hull provides a stable ride at high speeds and in rough waves.

The vessel is one of two the Navy is considering for the LCS—Lockheed Martin has already launched its monohull prototype, Freedom, and recently powered the ship's electrical systems. Both programs are over budget and behind schedule, but a winner may be announced by year's end.

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

BelichickFan

Personally I'd prefer to pay more and keep it built here - but if we refused to take bids from other companies, whether foreign or domestic, the Liberals here would be the first to pound the Bush administration for overpaying and choosing in non compete contracts.

Patters

Actually, that's not true. Liberals are more likely than conservatives to support programs that keep jobs here.

BelichickFan

That's not what I meant. It's ABS - Anti Bush Syndrome - you guys will criticize anything that the government does under Bush.

wistahpatsfan

I hear you on that one. Put me on that list. I'd do it just for spite. But I'm not a liberal. There's plenty of conservative types who are with me on this.

I'm also with you on keeping the military work here. It's not a matter of cost. We all know how the military loves to keep their costs down....It's more about trust and continuity of supply. What's to keep the Aussies from building stuff, selling them to us, and then raping us for replacement parts or shutting us off altogether if something unforseen develops? We should keep military production in-house. We'd have enough domestic competition and we need to keep our secrets close to the vest.

DarrylS

It is not this at all, it is PUSW... pro US worker..

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

BelichickFan

I'd love to walk around your guys' houses and see if you really walk the walk on that. Maybe you do.

Real World

The aussie's use lots of our equipment. So I guess they shouldn't be using our f-18 Hornets, or our F-111 Aardvark's since they didn't make either themselves. I'd much prefer to jeep everything in house (in the USA), but I don't think it wrong to seek bids & idea's from allied nations. When IED's were/are tearing apart our troops in Iraq, people were calling for the Isreali defense system, Trophy, to be utilized. By the logic being put forth here, we shouldn't even consider it since it's not "made in the USA". I think you consider everything, and anything, that makes sense. You shouldn't rule something out simply because we didn't make it. I think our making it or not, is a factor, just not the end all.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

BelichickFan

Indeed. Although I work for the U.S. government, most of my salary for years has been paid for by the Aussies for doing their F/A-18 S/W. Insourcing, baby

DarrylS

I try to buy as much as I can from the US, as I believe in the US worker.. however it gets more and more difficult with each passing day.. I wonder what the future holds for grandchildren and great children... what restaurant or hotel will they be working in.

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.