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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Boeing’s future in satellites and space

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As its F-15 and F/A-18 lines production could draw to a close by the 2020s, Boeing faces a future where its role as a prime military fighter jet manufacturer is uncertain.

But as it celebrates its centennial, Boeing is committed to remaining a major player in the business, even as it looks to invest in other areas, including unmanned systems, satellites and space travel, Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said in an interview.

“We expect to be a prime in the fighter jet business for the long run,” he said. “This is not a business we’re getting out of at all.”

Boeing has deals pending with Kuwait, which wants to buy 28 Super Hornets, and Qatar, which has ordered 36 F-15s. Muilenburg said he was confident those sales, which combined could reach $7 billion, would be approved by the U.S. government.

That would then allow the company to maintain a healthy production line as it courts Canada and other countries for additional sales.

Canada is a partner in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, but its new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has indicated that the government may want to look for other options.

The country currently has a fleet of F/A-18s that Boeing maintains.

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 has a single engine, and some have said they’re concerned that if it fails over the vast expanse of the country there is no back up.

“We have very close relationships with our Canadian customers,” Muilenburg said. “The Hornet fleet that they operate today has been very successful for them. They’ve shown that in the kind of operations that they have, especially harsh environments, polar environments there’s a real benefit to having a two-engine aircraft.”

Richard Aboulafia, a defense analyst with the Teal Group, said Boeing is “under competitive pressure” in the combat aircraft business. “But there are opportunities out there. It seems premature to give up hope.”

Last year, Boeing, which had teamed up with Lockheed Martin, lost the $80 billion contract to build the new Air Force bomber to Northrop Grumman.

Now, Boeing is intensely focused on building a new trainer aircraft for the Air Force, Muilenburg said, and developing the technologies that would be used in a sixth-generation fighter jet, one that would follow the F-35 years in the future.

It also recently signed a multi-billion-dollar deal to sell commercial airplanes to Iran in what would become the biggest sale of U.S. goods to Iran since the easing of economic sanctions last year.

The company turns 100 this summer, and Muilenburg said it is looking toward the next 100 years, to “a future where a combination of efficient air travel and efficient space travel can be offered to customers around the world.”

That would involve space tourism, he said, noting the habitats that Bigelow Aerospace are developing.

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