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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

I REALLY WANT TO USE A BAD WORD HERE BUT I WON'T...THE US NAVY IS BUYING RUSSIAN HELICOPTERS, BYPASSING SIKORSKY?

My first inclination was to say "what the .....?". I read the attached story on the Courant's website and just had to re-read it, click here to read it for yourself. Apparently the US Navy is bypassing Sikorsky Aircraft, a Connecticut based company. The helicopters for use in Afghanistan, will be purchased from a Russian company.

The explanation from the Navy is that pilots in Afghanistan are familiar with the Russian helicopters, used there in the 1980's. The Navy spokesperson claims that it could take "2 to 5 years" to train new pilots. Here goes another "what the ......?"

What about the machinists at Sikorsky and the small businesses that rely on Sikorsky to survive by building these aircraft? How long will it take to retrain them when they lose their jobs and the small businesses shut down?

Maybe it is time to start worrying about American workers and their jobs, rather than the difficulty of retraining Afghan pilots. So much for that "economic recovery", unless of course you are based in Russia.

8 comments:

Bill said...

Kevin: I'm not as adept at politics as you are, so, in my naive mind I have to think of a reason why. Could it be the U.S. is trying to get Russia on its side for "bigger issues" and this is just a way of throwing it a bone?

Matt said...

The worse part is when the pilots have landing emergencies with the new choppers they have to call "tech support" in India who try to talk them down with broken English.

"Hi this is Mohammad. Are you crashing over water or land? Select 1 for water, 2 for land."

Anonymous said...

Yo Matt,
You're stupid or perhaps racist. Get you facts right, Idiot !!!

Matt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Matt said...

Not sure how you got racist from my joke but I figured someone would put their own views into my words.

Thanks for not disappointing me.

Anonymous said...

Matt;

You are truly funny, don't worry about idiots. Because I worry about American jobs whenever I have to call tech support I do ask to speak to someone in the US, not that India or other countries can't handle the issue, it's just the principal of outsourcing so many jobs. I also won't use self checkouts at grocery stores, the are about the only jobs teens can get in today's economy.

Matt said...

Thanks Anonymous,

I wasn't too worried as soon as I read his first word "Yo"

Bob said...

The NBC network has a new sitcom coming out in the fall called "Outsourced".