Boeing's New Strategy

Since the Max program was found severally flawed, Boeing has pivoted towards its widebody offering until an all-clear signal is sent from its single-aisle offering, which may fly once again going to the next big airshow after Paris. Boeing has pivoted towards its 787 and 777X models, which it has been working within the market place over the last six months. Expect a few surprising announcements at Paris this year from Boeing. Maybe another 20 777X or 20 787's will be offered up at the center announcing stage, but it has feinted towards featuring its innovation over sales announcements at this year's airshow. Therefore, Boeing's pivot is an attempt to seamlessly move its game over the market board by quietly ignoring the single-aisle segment at this year's Airshow. My unofficial prediction is for about $7 billion in Boeing aircraft sales. 

Stratolaunch is a metaphor for Boeing Strategy of "Big"

Airbus should crush the single-aisle segment with over 100 A320's/A321's totaling around $10 billion US. It will also add another half dozen A350's from all classes for another $2 billion in sales, totaling a show-stopping $12 billion in sales. Yes, Boeing is going to lose this year's show in total sales but will its pivot to innovation and widebody work? 

Five years out will give the hindsight analysis on this question. At which time the Max will have flown again and a new single-aisle is on the board with taller landing gears, better engine configuration, and more assembly efficiency found within its frame. 2025 writes the advent of a new "737" announcement during the same time the 797 enters service. A new Boeing single-aisle will offer congruency with the 797 progressions. If a pilot flies a "new" single-aisle it can also fly a 787 as well, with little preparation for learning its capabilities and nature.

Boeing's new strategy is doing what it does best and the 737 is under "fix" mode in the meantime. Long ago it had lined out a strategy for bracketing Airbus offering in a model by model box between the 787 and 777 models. The A350-1000 or 2000 won't approach the 777X family of aircraft and the 787-9 is a mini Jumbo filling the long and thin distance niche airlines require.  Boeing may have trapped Airbus in a development quagmire using the 777 300ER frames as the basis for the next great airplane found in the 777X. Once the GE engine is matriculated from development hell it can and will outdo anything Airbus can offer from Rolls Royce. The English engine maker has fallen ten years behind GE.

Airbus is married to Rolls out of Euro loyalties and a GE powered Boeing will dominate going forward. Rolls can only do too little with a too much goal. GE is just now refining what Rolls is dreaming about with its engine offering. Boeing's strategy has gone big again.

The Daily Turkey Roast

It is well known about Turkey's insistence on buying Russian made S-400 missiles in the face of purchasing 100 or so US made F-35's. Turkey may have biffed it for itself but it also has made itself more reliant on external sources to military equipment by adding Russia to its list of military sources than just NATO or the USA. Turkey is independent but I get that and respect its solidarity for its independence when it bought the S-400 missile system from Russia.



Let's be honest since major powers put honesty as an indefensible point of its attack for any sensible defense, huh? There is no comparison between having an S-400 or an F-35 wing in its arsenal. The F-35 wins this trade-off in spades over the S-400. The only consolation prize is the costs savings after dropping the F-35 purchase and buying a cheaper Russian missile system in its place. Turkey cannot afford "American made" military-industrial complex products. Turkey won't be buying a Virginia Class submarine either for entering the Black Sea.

Turkey is a minor league military power and should not be buying major league pieces to dot its defensive board. The US loses because it has priced itself out of the third world military axis of powers. Russia meets the Turkey market place pricing scheme. The US may not have offered Turkey enough of a subsidy for Turkey to buy an F-35 system. Therefore, Turkey went to the bargain basement and bought the S-400. The US is too expensive for the likes of Turkey even though Turkey had built a strong technology industrial source for everything tech, hence the F-35 program participation. Turkey builds 900 plus parts for the F-35. The US is rapidly switching out F-35 parts sources that are not labeled, "made in Turkey".

Turkey was a partner for the money of it and it has now chosen something it can afford but in doing so it has given up the supporting the F-35 money footprint since it will not be making F-35 technology (parts) at all or so it seems. Russian S-400 parts making would not be able to replace the loss of the F-35 program over the long run. Turkey is just being a third world poser as it should. Therefore, the US should have acted accordingly and sold turkey more F-15Xs than offering the F-35 in the first place.

Turkey will talk to Russia about buying the Russian 5th gen fighter SU-57. It will want to offer a Su-57 parts contribution to that program not unlike what it had done with the F-35 program before it bought the Russian made S-400. So a recap of the SU-57 program is needed. It is airshow worthy. About a dozen of them exists at this time. What is known about them is a typical Russian overestimated effort for its excellence. The F-35 is no Su-57 because the F-35 is technologically better. India gave up on trying to partner with Russia on the Su-57 program. There will be a Turkish Su-57 hanger for three flying copies. One will eventually crash. NATO will use this opportunity to play the US for more stuff.

Now on this side of the planet, The US has more than a Patriot missile system to offer. Even though a Patriot label represents the most advanced missile system in the world, there is something more advanced having a Patriot label glued on it. The US has had too much time on its hands since the first Patriot system was first deployed. It stands to reason the US has a trump card to play in its arsenal but it won't sell that card to anyone as it is part of its national defense policy. Don't know what it is called and the name doesn't matter at this time. The theories do abound on what the US does have but it best speculated using assumptions with a range of capability from a winged drone to a hypersonic missile with all the bells and whistles. Russia and China are working on both and brag they have it today even though they are years behind what the US has. Why this is so? Because if it isn't we are in deep do-do. 

Proven concepts are in place waiting for productions orders. Boeing, Lockheed, and Northrup have a space ready to make "rain" happen. Satellites, HARRP, and lasers are not even calculated at this time. The more you know the more Turkey becomes a third world military complex. The F-35 was too expensive for them even holding techno parts contracts that are currently producing parts with which will come to a close shortly. The US is hoping to get its Turkey production replacements in place over the next six months into the F-35 supply chain.

Concluding, the Turkey F-35 withdrawal establishes a Geopolitical change has occurred and Turkey has become US baggage as it became a casualty of power. Mediterranean food is excellent and Turkey remains a great place to visit if enough money is spent. Turkey will host itself in the shine of coinage.

A 797 will Change the Travel Culture

Carry-on luggage is the key here. The 797 is designed for customers to wheel on something in the 15 KG realm using a simple lifting effort. Gone will be the anxious wait for luggage back in the terminal luggage turnstile. The 797 overhead bins will just be large and engineered to drop into the face of a boarding passenger giving it a  convenient position. A passenger who is only 5" plus tall and 90 pounds may heft a larger carry-on than what is now allowed, while slinging the end of the bag, case or backpack, catching the edge of the bin and then sliding the carry on into its depths. Passengers already seated should just stay seated assuming its bag has already been stowed above. However, having a three day supply of stuff for a trip matches well with those conferences we all love to adore. For the small in stature, a cleverly engineered interior should be able to accommodate the vertically challenged or muscleless traveler.

A United Airlines carry on has a restriction for size is 9 X 14x 22 inches a 797 bin could go an inch higher all around the dimension metric. Maybe just enough for the third day of clothes and a laptop computer to boot. Why? The 797 will have seven seats across and more storage space than a 787 jetliner.

Current overhead bin limitation

An inch here and an inch there, then viola you make it to Friday on a Monday night departure when traveling on the company's travel budget. Just have wheels and a lifting handle on the bag and get one end to the overhead bin edge with the other on your shoulder and shove. Unloading could be controlled easily by pulling a well placed strapped handle on the bag and then the second freehand catches the bag before it konks somebody's head below. Don't overload or make it heavy that would be rude creating an obnoxious hazard for others. The carry on bin will rotate upward to the higher ceiling in a power-assisted swing controlled by the flight attendant. Isn't it grand to design the passenger space with more room to play with?

If Cebu Air (Philippines) Buys the 787 Then,

There is more than meets the eye. The 797 may be in play with a fleet renewal bid by Boeing. Cebu already has the A320 and 8 of the older A330's in its stable putting Boeing on its heels in this bid process. The 330 Neo can meet fuel efficiency goals Cebu may have but the 787 family offers more flexibility for customers through 787 8's -10's. If the 797 is in play there enough lead time for the Boeing manufacturer to slide more 787's into Cebu's growth expansion and still optimize a fleet renewal plan after 2025 with 797's replacing any A320 in a one for one basis starting in 2026 as an example.

It isn't so certain what Cebu Air will do as it ponders Airbus and Boeing proposals for its fleet. If Cebu Air goes 787 then expect follow-on orders pinning the 797 to fleet renewal and expansion. 


Cebu has this fleet:

• 32 A320's 6 years old
• 8   A321's 1 year old 
• 8 A330's    4.5 year's old, order 8 new A330's

No Boeing product in its fleet;

What could a Boeing counter do?

• 8 787 -9's/10's by 2025 with options
• 12 797's by 2030 with options

This dichotomy of Boeing orders would bend the Airbus fleet outward from Cebu Air's hangers, providing a rebuttal that does not include the 737 Max. Because the 737 Max is in limbo until regulatory agencies resolve the Max issue, the 737 Max is a nonstarter and Boeing has to approach a customer with a 797 model sooner, rather than later. At this time, timing is everything for the makers and Cebu Air has both makers by the wing struts when hoping for a slam dunk order. It looks like it's tipping in Airbus' direction for this order. Even though the A350 is too big and the A330 NEO is not as efficient as the 787 families. The breaking point for Boeing is once again, the 737 Max as a nonstarter. Watch for the Cebu Air order breakout and then analyze what it means for Boeing for a trend indicator.

Provisionally Speaking, The 777X Has A June 21 Date For First Flight

O Simple Flying has come out with some timeline points for the 777X first flight and other 777X stuff. Kudos for O Simple Flying!

The June 21, 2019 date for the first flight of the 777X is a provisional date, but Boeing should make the date. The only thing that may hold the first flight into July would be Max 737 issues that may have infected the 777X program or a 737 Max draw of Boeing resources away from the 777X program when fixing the 737.

This is a much-looked forward event and has not formed up with its media look at this time. The meeting remains open whether Boeing invites a full public blowout or it will keep the first flight of the 777X close to its vest out of fear that something may go wrong in light of the 737 Max crashes.

Those accidents or mishaps as often remarked, has changed how Boeing structures its fanfare close to those recent 737 Max incidences. I would like to see significant 737 Max progress reported, for a return to flight, coupled with the 777X first flight event.

It is what's necessary if Boeing hopes to regain some public face after these two epic fails from its new single-aisle aircraft. Confidence has been lost but confidence can be regained with the 777X first flight. 

If the 777X first flight creeps into July, then the 737 Max situation would be a strained responsibility towards requiring a later first flight date of the 777X. Boeing is hesitant towards first flight until after checking three times that it will be a success. However, the provisional date of June 21, 2019, for the first 777X flight, represents an exhaustive review of the 777X program milestones.

A June 21 first flight date tells more about Boeing from many levels, it is ready for its counter-offensive in the aviation world, the 737 Max program has returned to stability and the 777X will fly.

Boeing Max Physics DH=Momentum

When D=dick and H=head a momentum forms the decision-making paradigm which ignores common sense and thus allowing top-down decisions bypassing engineering sense but enhancing parachute performance that floats above sense equaling Boeing's single most important question Why? 

An Idea, "Wet Lease the F-35 To Turkey"

The US and Turkey have found themselves in a diplomatic conundrum. If Turkey buys the S-400 missile system the US cancels the F-35 from Turkey, thus diminishing the American footprint in the region and so forth.

However, wet leashing the F-35 may protect the F-35 in Turkey when certain conditions are met. A wet lease is taking equipment in without a purchase and it requires the equipment leashed to be fully manned or staffed for its operations by the lessor, or in this case the US.

Turkey gets its 100 F-35's while the US maintains its property out of the country but in Turkish airspace. A wet lease is defined as:

"Wet lease. A wet lease is a leasing arrangement whereby one airline (the lessor) provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) to another airline or other type of business acting as a broker of air travel (the lessee), which pays by hours operated.

However, a military term could be written-in, by having the lessor, maintaining complete control of the property while under the military control of the lessee, Every time an F-35 flies and is painted by an S-400 missile system suggest a study is being conducted on the F-35, the US could "deactivate" such a system since it is an implied a threat to wet-leased F-35's

Harsh yes, but the reality is demonstrated how vulnerable program secrets are held while the lessor insures its "proprietary secrets". In this case, Turkey has the F-35 asset but can not expose its secrets while defending Turkeys airspace in peacetime and is allowed to strategically protect its region in wartime The lessor through a "wet lease" protects and manages the asset against loss of its advanced secrets. Who would man the F-35? Why the US military as it would supply the crew for such an endeavor as NATO partner. Practical No! and that is the point of the s-400 missile system. It is consistent with Turkey's prior treaty commitment with NATO.

A wet lease suggestion points how ridiculous is Turkey's buy of the S-400 missile system from Russia. It is falling from any sound decision making and all that is left to fall is Erdogan's pride.

F-35 Is Moving From Dodge Ball To Base Ball

In keeping with springtime, the baseball season is upon us. The F-35 is not a premium dogfighter in an airshow capacity. It is an overachiever in an MIT sense. It just out thinks its adversaries. "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear", so goes the saying. The F-35 is improved not from an acrobatic perspective but with a "dirty harry" type of 44 magnums called Sidekick. It is a rack that fits internally to the F-35's weapons bay, adding two more missiles to its armament. "Make my day" to the juggler, utters the F-35 pilot. 

Defense Connect

Do a double gainer inside reverse move and I'll shoot before you can dazzle. Side Kick brings extra punch to the fight enhancing the stand-off capability with two extra missiles under the cloak of stealth. 

Enhancing the F-35 does not include more aerobatics or speed but it uses what it's given, more options for the supercomputer bolted onboard. 

The F-35 has the horsepower for the additional weapons stored inside on a sidekick rack. Those aerobatic tricksters are already dead if vectoring left or right 50 miles from an F-35. Dogfight? I see "no stinking dogfights",  painted on the side of the F-35 in this picture. If there is a dogfight then training failed for the pilot of an F-35 when getting that close to a SU 57. 

Expect no aerobatic enhancements going forward with the F-35. Expect weapons added like a laser or a longer range AA missile and some more satellite programming.

Has The F-35 Become a Cultural Thing For Canada?

Canada has long wanted a replacement for its aging CF-18, an old version of its primary fighter model. The conservative party a long ago set up the F-35 to be the CF-18's successor. Then a culture change occurred in Canada. It voted a Liberal Trudeau into power who immediately sided with a populist bent of having an "open" fighter competition amongst the worldwide manufacturers of such aircraft. 

Sounds reasonable but this is a contest for the defense of Canada, not a marketing campaign! Trudeau wanted a good profile photo shot in the newspapers so he tweaked the marketing blitz for a new fighter that made it difficult for those he did not want to be rewarded with a solid Canadian dollar contract. Hence Boeing and Lockheed had trouble and the Euro groups found the door ajar in the Canadian do-over round for a new fighter bid.

The Canadian culture shifted when it elected Trudeau its leader, and now the liberal forces are holding his stances to the fire from the promises he made when wanting to own the Canadian power grid. The F-35 would not come to Canada! The Lockheed product was a synonym term for conservative ideology.

"Canada is out for just wanting independence from its owns cultural skin and wanted nothing to do with the F-35 concept," implied Trudeau. 

Meanwhile back at the big Ottawa barn, The CF-18 got a little older, and Canada became less, rather than greater defending itself. The problems of the F-35 progress became the reminder that Trudeau may know what he is doing when in fact it is just his plain dumb luck. The Canadian culture will live to fight another day but will they win? Having bangers could turn into Caviar overnight and that's just the tundra part of Canada. 


Polar bears become more endangered because of the indefensible liberal policy of having the same "I don't care attitude" towards nature as a conquering adversary to the west of Alaska threatens Canada with Caviar. The US has not often shown compassion for Canadian Culture. There are no Canadian drive-through restaurants in the US as one big example. Russia doesn't care, it just wants expansion over the northern tier of the globe. It already has half of the northern tier from the Polar bear perspective. Ice is Ice and Oh Canada is losing Ice faster than the Siberian express and the Polar bears are starving near the Hudson Bay, "so let's buy the Euro fighters" to save the bears from Russia! 

Spoken like a true Canadian eco-hugger. Yes, the culture has changed in Canada and has its thought patterns. "So we'll have a luxury tax affixed to thoughts with a Canadian dollar value to boot. The F-35 after-all is an American idea and its south of Canada.

The Canadian culture has no intention of selecting the F-35 for its CF-replacement. Lockheed tried to make it Canadian by installing a business footprint in Canada with $700 US millions in spending. Boeing complained about Bombardier deals with Airbus and it cost them a cultural way out from Canada so far, the Canadian sentiment bought 20-year-old F-18's from Australia to replace Canadian 25-year-old C-18's like some kind of strategic move that would make Polar Bears safer. Once again, Canadian cultural thinking rose to the top of the heap at the bear dump near Hudson Bay.

After carefully thinking through the Canadian decision-making paradigm, I came to these bullets points. Everyone who is anyone knows bullet points makes the writer look smarter and its really neat in a Canadian kind of way to include them.

Here are a few points at the bottom for your quick thinking urge:

• Critical Thinking is not a degree program in Canada
• The F-35 costs were quoted in US dollars
• A 25-year-old F-18 from Australia is better than  a 25-year-old CF 18 it replaces in Canada
• There are no Canadian food take-outs in the USA
• Polar Bears are endangered from Critical Canadian Thinking
• A CCT scan does not exist North of Detroit or Wisconsin, "we think!!"
• Trudeau is Canada's leader, thus he preserves Canada's new culture.
• And finally, French-speaking made for a successful Canadian Beaver trade over the last 200 years.

Is the F-35 the answer, "no", the answer comes long after the last ice age.

Wack-A-Mole vs ISIS Resurgence

ISIS has just lost its last physical ground station in Syria, hence the map of occupation in the region has changed in favor of the allied forces. What will ISIS do as it no longer "owns" turf unique to its purpose? The US will remain frustrated as the scattered units of former ISIS organized bands resemble gang like units of retribution on innocent people who happened to live in ISIS harm's way. The US and its allies have a long time to think this problem through.

There are millions of households in the region and many of them have varying degrees of loyal ISIS fighters living in them. The new occupational area of ISIS is defined by when and where enforcement is lacking, and sometimes rearing its ugly head up in a world controlled by organized military doctrine. How will the organized fare against the gangs,  individuals or ISIS "sleepers" who lay in wait for opportunity without the fear of one's own loss of life? Treating it like an urban gang suppression is simplistic. Going after every household in some kind of shakedown becomes a drain on resources that will bound an organized government which settles into a quagmire which it will never escape The solution is complex and the virus is embedded into our planet.

 The game of whack-a-mole is a never-ending pursuit of insanity. Spraying a Round-Up like substance on the lawn kills everything and is not a solution to the problem. Elimination of religions is a fool's errand. Behavioral science has more merit as a weapon than cluster bombs. Learning to get along without shoving a bias down another throat is the goal. Religion becomes a by-product. 

Doing God's work on earth by killing unbelievers insults God's power over humankind. God does not need men to do his work. He created us in the first place and insulting the creator by killing his creation is a flawed idea. Talking terrorist down from the piety of a Jihad is a difficult road. The human spirit and mind can become shattered easily. 

Christianity has a lot to account for and crawling up stone steps before an assigned location for God is just as ridiculous as someone walking around a big box in some secluded location on earth thinking it is pleasing religious angst against humanity. Religion can be a solution but proving righteous by eliminating your neighbor is not the answer. Those with faith are on the right path but paying attention to another's belief and acting on behalf of God exposes a lack of trust in our creator to do the right thing for mankind.

No matter how much one rationalizes about taking the initiative for destroying evil using religious belief, the only target should be in yourself needing destruction of a superior ego. Blowing yourself up with others around you who may be both be a believer or an unbeliever fails to impress God at all. The solution for this war of terrorism does not have a religious solution as a group. It comes from a solution from within yourself, one person at a time.

If you don't have a belief then look inside yourself for a position to take before killing others. No matter what religious simulation one takes the basic life axioms to emerge on the same page of life. Existing is God's plan whether, for good or evil, God will solve man's problems. 

The military cannot change one life at a time with a bullet because other lives spring up from that example hating everything that a military represents. It is a very long road changing one life at a time but it is also exponential growth in its progress when measured against the beginning of acceptance for human flaws in comparison to one's own belief.