PARIS — Boeing’s defense business plans to compensate for an expected weakening of U.S. military sales through a sharp rise in international exports, the company’s president said Sunday.
“We’re seeing a flattening of the (U.S.) defense budget, but we see a lot of opportunities for us internationally,” said Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS).
Boeing IDS already has moved aggressively into the international marketplace, and brought foreign sales up from 5 percent five years ago to a current export business worth $5 billion, or 16 percent of its sales.
“We think we can easily grow that to about 20 percent in the next five years,” Albaugh told reporters ahead of the today’s opening of the Paris Air Show.
Boeing job woes
In its bid to reduce its work force by 6 percent this year, the Boeing Co. shed 517 jobs in Washington state in May. Since the beginning of the year, 2,657 Boeing jobs have been lost in this state.
At least 4,500 jobs will be lost this year in the commercial airplanes division, based here in Washington. That number could grow, given that Boeing has announced it will slow production of its 777 next year.
On the defense-plant end, the company was forced to lay off 800 workers at its Wichita, Kan., facility in November because of a delay of a U.S. Air Force tanker replacement program and the completion of other work projects.
Planes Boeing hopes to market
However attractive exports are, Chicago-based Boeing faces heavy competition from a number of other manufacturers in the United States and Europe for military orders.
One warplane that Boeing will aggressively market is the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, of which Australia has bought 24. (The next generation of Navy attack aircraft, the EA-18G Growler, is replacing the EA-6B Prowler at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. The Growler combines the Super Hornet with state-of-the-art electronic capabilities, according to the Navy.)
The Super Hornet, too, represents an alternative for many nations that ordered Lockheed Martin Corp.’s ultra-expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but are uncertain if deliveries can be made on time.
“On the Super Hornet side, right now we can see an international marketplace in excess of 250 airplanes,” Albaugh said.
Albaugh said Boeing IDS was also optimistic about prospects for sales of its newly unveiled and revamped prototype of the F-15 tactical jet fighter, which has been in production since the 1970s.
The latest model, called the F-15 Silent Eagle, is designed specifically for customers in the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
It too is meant to compete against the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which incorporates extensive stealth technology.
The new F-15 is equipped with redesigned fuel tanks that can be converted into internal weapons bays, as well as slanted tails, an improved cockpit design and special coatings that reduce radar visibility.
“We are not trying to say that this is an airplane that has full-aspect stealth capability. It doesn’t. But from a front-radar cross-section it has all the stealth that has been approved for export by the U.S. government,” Albaugh said. “We think it gives customers an alternative to have some stealth.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
