Quoting AngMoh (Reply 122): This is the real problem: at the time the program was awarded it was with a timeline which was risky to say the least. But with another timeline, Boeing would not have been awarded the program. So damn if you do, damn if you don't. |
As we see from Karel's post, Boeing is not only already eating $1.3B in overruns (and surely more to come), it is now subject to (unspecified) penalties for being late too. Since we can presume they went into this with eyes wide opened, I think it's safe to presume they felt the risks were worth taking.
It'll be interesting to see if we see some sort of bail-out like the A400M got. In the case of A400M the penalties were well specified but were so large as to amount to a "poison pill" since (at least if you believe Airbus) if they had to make the project whole it would cause the company to be in dire financial straits. Add to that the fact that some of the customers had varying degrees of ownership in Airbus, and we saw they would not eat the poison pill and instead agreed to a relaxed delivery schedule and payment of several billions of Euros in increased costs. Now we see Germany is going to claim its own penalties against A400Ms revised delivery agreement, and is saying that those penalties are already specified contractually.
However, where there's a will there's a way, and I would not be surprised if we find out that Boeing and Congress find some way to throw Boeing a bone.
It'll be interesting to see exactly what kind of penalties US
AF will claim vs Boeing and how long it will take for it all to end up in court.
It'll also be interesting to see a final accounting if/when the final (179th?) frame rolls off the line, to see if Boeing ends up making or losing money on the program.