(New York Times) As the search for the cause of smoldering batteries in Boeing’s grounded 787 Dreamliner continues, investigators and Congressional oversight committees may want to look into a related and potentially sensitive issue: how was the Japanese company GS Yuasa chosen to manufacture the innovative but now suspect lithium-ion batteries on the 787?
No one has claimed that GS Yuasa was chosen for the 787 on anything but merit. But Boeing has long been dogged by suspicions that in return for its awarding major contracts to Japanese companies, which also receive subsidies from Japan’s government, the country’s airlines buy Boeing aircraft almost exclusively.
