Monday, September 22, 2014

Boeing may Concede Fighter Market to Lockheed

As funding dries up for Boeing fighter planes, the company is targeting other aircraft — such as military versions of its commercial jets — to keep annual sales in its St. Louis-based defense unit above $30 billion.

The U.S. and other countries have been focusing spending on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter made by Boeing rival Lockheed Martin Corp. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chris Chadwick, head of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, is preparing a blueprint for the future that concedes the fighter market to Lockheed and focuses on opportunities with other aircraft.

The defense and space unit, which is headquartered in Hazelwood, reported $33.2 billion in sales last year, up 2 percent from the prior year. The St. Louis manufacturing line that makes F/A-18 and F-15 fighter jets could be shut down within five years unless the company can land new orders, either domestically or internationally.

Chadwick told the Wall Street Journal that he believes the F/A-18 can be sustained through the end of the decade.

Chadwick plans to move responsibilities and products around within the defense units' three divisions — Military Aircraft, Networks and Space, and Services and Support — with a focus on higher services revenues, the newspaper reports.

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