Foreign Intrigue

Kansas lawmakers are asking Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to provide "a thorough, compelling explanation" for the Defense Department's decision to award a multimillion-dollar contract to build aircraft for the Afghan military to a foreign bidder at a higher price than its domestic competitor offered during a time when financial restraint "is mandatory" for DOD.

In a March 8 letter, Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts (R), Jerry Moran (R) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R) told Hagel that they had "significant concerns" about the $427.5 million the Air Force awarded to Sierra Nevada Corp. and Brazil's Embraer last month. That contract would provide 20 light-attack aircraft to the Afghanistan air force as part of the Light Air Support program, with the first plane delivery scheduled for the summer of 2014. Pompeo told Inside the Air Force on Friday that the Kansas congressional delegation became concerned about the contract award after they discovered that Beechcraft Corp., which competed for and lost the contract, had offered to produce the planes at a vastly reduced price.

Beechcraft placed a bid on the contract that was about 30 percent less than the one the Air Force accepted from Sierra Nevada and Embraer, Pompeo said.

"We learned this week that America didn't have enough money to keep the White House open for tours, and yet it's got enough money to pay one-third more for an airplane? That's befuddling to me," he said.

Also on Friday, Beechcraft -- which has a production facility in Kansas -- announced that it planned to formally protest the Air Force's decision through the Government Accountability Office. The company offered to provide its AT-6 aircraft to Afghanistan while its competitors, Sierra Nevada and Embraer, offered to provide Afghanistan the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft.