Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has sent Boeing a letter expressing his “disappointment” about company comments recently that he interpreted as disparaging of Mobile, Ala., reports George Talbot of the Press-Register. Mobile is the site of rival Northrop Grumman’s proposed KC-30 tanker production facility. Shelby called upon Boeing to “disavow the offensive remarks about Mobile” and “Alabama’s highly qualified workforce.” A Boeing spokesman told the newspaper that its comments focused on the “technical and schedule risk” inherent in starting up any new production plant, compared to ones that have years of operation, such as the Boeing lines in Everett, Wash., and Wichita, Kan. Both companies touted their contenders for the KC-X tanker replacement program during AFA’s recent 2007 Air & Space Conference in Washington.
Australia’s military will help the Pentagon pursue so-called “air-breathing” hypersonic weapons and more under the U.S.-run Allied Prototyping Initiative, the U.S. Defense Department said Nov. 30. The Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) initiative “will be essential to the future of hypersonic research and development, ensuring the U.S. and…