Some worrying news on the armed-services front

In June each year there is a gathering in Paris at Le Bourget Airport for all the major aircraft manufacturers. It is a big deal. How big? Airbus contracted for 148 new plane orders to be delivered in 2026 and another 81 on option (basically for orders to be confirmed for 2027 and beyond). Embraer got 75 orders and 5 options. And Boeing this year (2024 = 155 orders)? Not One. Reason? No one is confident Boeing can deliver planes because of the Administration’s tariff nonsense since 50% of Boeing’s planes’ parts are manufactured across the world.

At $100 million to $150 million per Airbus plane, that’s $14.8 billion to $22.2 billion lost to Boeing and American industry as a whole…seen another way 170,000 workers at Boeing are going to be twiddling their thumbs over this nonsense.

On a separate topic, the United States owns, controls, the radio frequencies used for all broadcasting, cell phones, military use, and the like. Just as the government allocates oil drill leases on public land by a bidding process (bid war), so too the use of public frequencies are allocated by sealed bid process by the FCC and then ratified by Congress. But in the recent so-called Big Beautiful Bill, Congress is now changing that fair process and simply wants to allocate frequencies. Of course, if there is no transparent bidding process, you can expect friends of the Administration to be favored (we’re getting used to that slight-of-hand to fair trade).

Of particular worry are the “Low 3” band allocations, previously allocated to the military and nicknamed the “Goldilocks Zone” for their signal clarity, suddenly being up for grabs. The excuse is to combat China and allow U.S.-based companies to control the 6G spectrum for portable devices and build that commercial sector. Value here for the Low 3 bands? Estimates by the CBO is $100 billion. Money rules, currently, and while the military is aghast that the Low 3 may be taken away from them, it seems that there is little they can do. U.S. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worries that operating side by side with commercial interests may “adversely” impact the joint forces. And he added that such a safe side-by-side capability does not exist “today.” Other Senators on the Arms Services Committee are on record too, “If the [Defense Department] is technically unable to operate alongside wireless carriers using these bands domestically, how on Earth could we expect to prevail in a Pacific conflict? It is simply not credible.”

Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, New York, now lives in Gila, New Mexico.