Boeing reaches $13 billion in defense wins with T-X training jet deal
Boeing's victory in the competition for a training jet to replace the Air Force's aging T-38 fleet gives the contractor $13 billion in recent defense contract awards.
The Chicago-based company, which worked with Saab to all-new jets for the project, confirmed it had won the contract in a post on social media platform Twitter. The award was first reported by Reuters.
“Today’s announcement is the culmination of years of unwavering focus by the Boeing and Saab team,” said Leanne Caret, president of Boeing's defense business. “We expect T-X to be a franchise program for much of this century.”
Boeing and rival defense contractors including Lockheed Martin have benefited from a resurgence in military spending this year as President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress work to revitalize U.S. defensive capabilities. A two-year agreement ratified by lawmakers in March raised the cap for
defense spending to $700 billion for fiscal 2018, which ends Sept. 30, and to $716 billion for 2019.
The T-X is a
two-seat craft for Air Force pilots designed to replace the
T-38 built by Northrop Grumman from 1961 through 1972, some 500 of which are still in service. The jets have been used to train more than 72,000 Air Force pilots, and Northrop designed a replacement wing to extend the plane's lifespan through at least 2020.
Boeing has invested heavily in "capturing future franchise programs," Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg told investors in July. In addition to the Stingray, "we're also leveraging capabilities from across the enterprise" for a new intercontinental ballistic missile system for the Air Force and the T-X trainer, he said.
Boeing won a $2.4 billion contract to replace the aging UH-1N "Huey" choppers used to protect America's missile bases earlier this week.
That agreement covers up to 84 of Boeing's MH-139 helicopters, which are flown by more than 270 governments, militaries, and companies worldwide, the Chicago-based company said in a statement. The aircraft, which can carry up to 15 passengers, has state-of-the-art features such as sliding side windows that accommodate on-board machine guns and an engine designed to better evade enemy forces' infrared detection systems.
Earlier this summer, Boeing won a $194 million contract to update software and equipment used by crews training to work on the U.S. Navy's
P-8A Poseidon, a maritime patrol jet; a
$2.9 billion orderfrom the Air Force for 18
KC-46 refueling tankers; and an
$805 million contract to develop the first unmanned plane for Navy aircraft carriers.
The planemaker's stock has climbed 25 percent in New York trading this year to $367.99, more than twice the gains of the broader S&P 500.
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