Boeing still seeking JSF role

Associated Press

CHICAGO — Two months after Boeing Co. lost out on the largest military contract ever, chairman and CEO Phil Condit said Thursday the company is still waiting for winner Lockheed Martin to decide how big a share, if any, to give its rival in the Joint Strike Fighter project.

Condit thinks Boeing will probably get some work from the project, but he’s not counting on it. Even if the company is shut out of the potentially $300 billion deal, he said, Boeing has plenty of options for the future and has no plans to get out of the fighter-jet business.

"There’s a lot of quality stuff we can do without JSF," Condit said during a question-and-answer session with reporters at Boeing’s headquarters. "JSF doesn’t go into production till ‘09. A lot of things can happen between now and then."

Boeing, he said, produces a good Navy jet fighter — the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet — and will try to lower its cost to make it more marketable.

Condit also voiced high hopes for the future of its unmanned military drones. The Air Force is scheduled next month to test-fly the Boeing-built UCAV, or unmanned combat aerial vehicle, which would loiter over dangerous targets and drop as much as 3,000 pounds of bombs.

"I think there’s a very good chance that unmanneds are the next wave," he said.

In Afghanistan, the United States has used unmanned aerial drones in an attack role for the first time.

Notwithstanding Condit’s optimism, the loss of the Joint Strike Fighter contract in October was devastating for Boeing, which has been striving to lessen its dependence on the volatile commercial airplane industry. The contract calls for more than 3,000 next-generation fighter jets for three branches of the armed forces.

John Smith, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Fort Worth, Texas, indicated a decision on whether to involve Boeing is not imminent. He said more meetings will be held with Boeing and there’s no timetable for a decision.

"The issue’s still open," Smith said. "There’s a lot of time left in the process."

Condit said separately Thursday that while demand for its commercial airplanes may not rebound until 2004, strength in its space and military aircraft businesses should offset the decline and help Boeing hold its profit margins.

Boeing shares rose 63 cents to $38.14 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, down from $66 at the start of the year.