WASHINGTON - Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy are not bashful about enthusiastically promoting the fortunes of major Connecticut defense players like Sikorsky, Electric Boat and United Technologies.
But they like to wrap their boosterism in high-minded appeals for greater national security and the weaponry needed to preserve our democracy. Submarines, helicopters and jet engines are the state’s best-known products. Joining the list now are propellers for aging Vietnam-era C-130 military transport planes.
Blumenthal’s office on Tuesday issued a letter written by Blumenthal, Murphy and eight other senators to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, calling on her to hasten purchase and installation of new NP-2000 propeller blades. The high-tech blades can be inserted and extracted "on-wing" from shopworn C-130s as if they were replacement air filters or tires on your car.
The C-130 remains the go-to aircraft for the Air National Guard, including the 103rd Airlift Wing stationed at Bradley Airport in Hartford. Blumenthal’s letter takes note of a Marine Corps Reserve C-130 crash last year in Mississippi, which led to uncovering "systemic problems in propeller-blade depot-level maintenance." Although Congress has appropriated the money, "the Air National Guard has been unable to gain approval necessary from your office to allow a contract to be signed," the letter told Wilson. "Delays from your office on this matter are unacceptable considering the inherent safety and readiness risks surrounding this issue." But nowhere in the letter or the accompanying press release is it mentioned who makes the blades _ which defense contractor would benefit from the signing of that contract. A simple Google search showed the NP-2000 contractor is none other than...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/politics/article/DC-BUZZ-Forget-submarines-CT-senators-go-to-bat-13725935.php
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