DaliLlama.com

For anyone who had a childhood.

What happens when the domestic shoo-in for a $40 billion contract for military aerial tankers loses to a foreign consortium? They put out a press release, of course.

But what to argue? Government misconduct? Nope. Problems with foreign involvement? Nope.

“No fair. Their plane is bigger than ours?”
DING DING DING

As far as military contracting goes, truth be told, there isn’t a lot of consumer-style marketing involved. But it is, nonetheless, somewhat disappointing that after losing what was the most important US aerospace contract after the Joint Strike Fighter (you know which one–the plane that scares that can scare enemies into submission using its helmet alone), that Boeing would recycle its marketing bullet points when it is clear that their loss is the result of a far more complex problem than “mine’s bigger than yours.”

Comparing the A330 platform to the 767 is very much a non-sequitur. When the US Air Force puts out an RFP (as Brazil will do so soon for its multi-billion dollar FX2 project), they’re looking for the plane that fits their strategy the best. To simplify the matter, their choice of KC-30/45 seems to be one of “I’d rather carry more cargo and offload more fuel using less planes”. This is why for each of of Boeing’s selling points there is a clear, all-too-simple answer.

• Fuel Cost: the KC-30/45 due to its size will undoubtedly burn more fuel per flight hour. However, its additional fuel capacity means less sorties (or flights) will need to be taken to offload the same amount of fuel.
• Maintenance and infrastructure cost: C’mon meow, that’s highly subjective. Operating costs for more recently-designed aircraft tend to be lower. And just because it’s bigger, the offset in the lower quantity of aircraft will go a long way to reducing costs in items such as engine overhauls (and other big-ticket items.
• Airfields: Funny thing is rarely ever do planes take off with full loads. More so than that, instances when the tanker is both carrying cargo and offloading fuel are rarer still. True, the 767 will be able to use more of its full capacity, but I suspect for the same amount of runway the KC-30/45 will be able to either take off with more fuel (mission #1) or more cargo (#2).
• Fewer aircraft per field: Again goes back to a question of capacity vs. quantity.

It’s clear Boeing completely misjudged the RFP for this project. Had, say, the 777 been matched up against the KC-30/45 or even the larger 767-400 been lobbed as an alternative, Boeing might have had a chance. For a company that lost the JSF contract and has been in as many imbroglios as it has been recently (and on this very contract), I expected Boeing not to resort to discredited selling points and actually reform the RFP.

Lo-and-behold the RFP has been cancelled, and we’ll see another run-off between Boeing and Northrop-Grumman/EADS by the end of the year. Here’s to second chances.

From a Brazilian defense establishment site, commemorating the 6th year of the Brazilian Air Force’s infantry battalion.

Translation: “Hipomobile cells are ideal to cover airbases’ long perimeters.”

Hipomobile cell… To paraphrase Paulo Francis, the moment the Brazilian military calls soldiers on horseback “cavalry” and not “hipomobile cell”, Hugo Chavez will become a Hare Krishna, the FARC will start planting sunflowers and Paraguay will donate their half of Itaipú to Brazil.

One of my father’s pearls comes to mind:

“The reason the army generals wore sunglasses is that otherwise they’d graze on their own uniforms”.

(via DefesaNet)

After a long holding pattern, please put your tray tables in their upright and locked positions and return your seatbacks forward in preparation for landing. O tempo em Guarulhos é nublado e com garoa–e viva São Paulo!

Petrobrás, the semi-public Brazilian oil company, announced today that a container with classified seismic research data was stolen. Petrobrás, if you recall, made headlines recently after discovering an oilfield off the coast of Brazil which was so large Brazil could become a net exporter of oil once it was tapped.

What really caught my eye was this:

The information stolen was considered classified and the container’s transport was contracted to Halliburton.

In the words of Robert Wuhl, I shit you not.

(via Folha Online)

One of my dreams came true this month when Rafael began to blog. His blog, aptly named Fafinha’s Diary: Brasil from Brazil, is off to a running start. I wrote a lengthy reply to his post on a Brazilian magazine, Carta Capital. Carta Capital is a Brazilian weekly magazine whose bias is admittedly pro-Lula. Despite reading the magazine religiously every week, for me the problem with that being honest with an unabashed bias is best represented with the following (paraphrased) exchange from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby:

Ricky Bobby: “Larry, no offense, but fuck you!”

Larry: “What the hell–that doesn’t–saying “no offense” doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want to me.”

Ricky Bobby: “It sure does–that’s what no offense means. It means I can say whatever I want!”

Larry: “…”

Carta Capital, no offense, but your bias, however admitted, is too close to ideology for you to be taken seriously.

From one of my favorite places on the web, the Escapist Magazine, comes a review of the latest installment of the Call of Duty series of videogames, CoD 4. I played it this weekend, but to be honest, I had more fun watching this review than playing the actual game.

Makes Jeff Gerstmann look like a yes-man.

A ticket to hell has never been funnier, but as my great-uncle would say,

Since you’re going to hell already, might as well go first-class.

(Coerulos via Digg)

Two years ago today, when I wished “happy birthday” to São Paulo, I ended by saying “We’ll meet again.”

Saudosa maloca, tâmo di volta. 

 As some may have heard, Al Gore is set to be the newest member of the (in)famous Venture Capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.  While perusing the Wikipedia article on Al Gore’s son, a little factoid caught my eye:

On July 4, 2007, [Albert] Gore [III] was arrested in Laguna Hills in Orange County, California for speeding over 100 MPH in a Toyota Prius. Gore admitted to recently smoking marijuana and was found to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana, along with the prescription drugs Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, Adderall and Soma. Police reported that Gore had not been prescribed the drugs.

I don’t mind that Gore III was apparently running a dispensary from the back of his Prius. But how in the hell did he manage to speed in a Prius? 100MPH, really? How modded is his car?

Al, I think you just found where your first term sheet should be headed.