Word: 5b
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...used 747s for considerably less money (the new planes would cost $72 million each), or to build 50 of Lockheed's modernized C-5Bs (at a cost of $118 million each). Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger decided that the most sensible choice, both militarily and financially, was the C-5B...
...Defense officials had met almost every morning in the office of Air Force Major General Guy Hecker Jr. for strategy sessions. The printout listed more than 250 Congressmen who were to be lobbied by either military personnel or some 40 companies that would do subcontracting work on the C-5B. It included references to letters written by Lockheed Chairman Roy Anderson to airlines with military hauling contracts. At least one of the letters hinted darkly that a Boeing success "could adversely affect revenues from Government contracts...
...House debate began last week, both Lockheed and Boeing extolled their planes in a flurry of splashy full-page ads in the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Smooth-tongued Georgians led the House forces for the C-5B, which is to be built in Marietta, Ga., while a squadron of Boeing backers from Washington and Kansas derided Lockheed's plane as the Edsel of the air. Democratic Representative Thomas Downey of New York echoed Boeing supporters: "The C-5B is in the top five of turkeys. The alltime turkey hall of fame...
...letter to Democratic Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin, who called for the GAO investigation, Deputy Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci argued that the Pentagon's decision to buy the C-5B "was based on a careful analysis of our airlift needs." Indeed, experts predict that the joint congressional committee responsible for reconciling the two versions of the 1983 defense authorization bill will almost certainly follow the Pentagon's wishes. Unlike the 747, the C-5B can carry such outsize cargo as M-l and M-60 tanks and self-propelled howitzers, which can easily roll up the ramp...
...congressional hearing in May, five Pentagon experts were asked whether the difference in performance was worth the extra cost of the C-5B. Absolutely, was the unanimous reply. Thus the public can take consolation from the fact that the House may have made the right choice-even if it made it for all the wrong reasons. -By Richard Stengel...