A Northrop Grumman RQ-4A Global Hawk aerial drone crashed in Salisbury, Maryland yesterday. The pilot was unhurt. Oh, wait ….
The U.S. Navy’s $176 million remote-controlled aircraft smacked into the ground just outside town, the largest infusion of government cash in Salisbury since the state plopped down a university there in 1925. This is the biggest thing to happen in Salisbury (“Crossroads of Delmarva”) since last week’s big WWF wrestling match.
Forget Wikileaks. The Air Force doesn’t need help in spilling secrets — it delivers confidential bid data directly to competing defense contractors. An Air Force clerical error sent Boeing bidding information to competitor EADS and vice versa, fouling up the $40 billion contract for a mid-air refueling tanker plane that has been delayed for a decade.
The tanker dogfight began in 2001, when ex-fighter pilot Senator John McCain (R-AZ) shot down a Boeing deal. In the bidding war that followed, Boeing offered a job to the Air Force officer running the bid. Two Boeing execs were went down in flames and did jail time, and the firm’s CEO quit.
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