The Boeing Co News

The U.S. Navy sees its future fleet comprised of more than 350 manned ships and about 150 unmanned ships hoping technology means lower operating costs as it prepares to counter a growing Chinese fleet, according to a Navy report released Tuesday.The plan for the 2040s and beyond underscored "the need to address long-term competition with China and sustain military advantage against Russia". It forecasts fleet numbers up slightly from a 2021 Navy long-range shipbuilding plan which…

Cruise operators Royal Caribbean Group and Viking Cruises canceled sailings to Russia on Wednesday, joining their rivals and many Western brands in suspending operations in the country after its invasion of Ukraine.Celebrity Cruises, owned by Royal Caribbean, said it was removing Russian port city St. Petersburg from upcoming itineraries, adding that it would visit other Scandinavian ports in its place.Silversea Cruises also said it would re-route summer voyages scheduled to stop in Russia and Ukraine, while Royal Caribbean International said it had canceled its visits to St.

Indonesia has recovered the cockpit voice recorder from a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea in January, and the air accident investigator said on Wednesday it could take up to a week to be able to listen to the recording.The CVR could help investigators understand the actions taken by the pilots of the doomed jet, which crashed shortly after take-off on Jan. 9, killing all 62 people on board.A preliminary report by investigators released in February said the plane had an imbalance in engine thrust that eventually led it into a sharp roll and then a final dive into the sea. The report included information from the flight…

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted unanimously to confirm veteran government trade lawyer Katherine Tai as the first woman of color to serve as U.S. Trade Representative, putting her to work enforcing trade deals, confronting China’s trade practices and patching up ties with U.S. allies.The rare 98-0 vote for Tai, a Yale and Harvard-educated daughter of immigrants from Taiwan, reflects support from pro-labor Democrats, traditional free-trade Republicans and China hawks from both parties.Tai…

The St. Louis Regional Freightway has compiled a summary of the major developments over the past year that either elevated the St. Louis region’s global status as a world-class freight hub or will help to advance the region’s position as the country’s freight nexus in the year ahead.“From mega projects breaking ground and global companies choosing to invest here, to newly formed partnerships that strengthen the bi-state region’s role in national and global supply chains, there was much to be excited about in 2019…

The full investigation report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be released after the latest search efforts are completed, officials said on Thursday, four years after the aircraft first went missing. Flight MH370, carrying 239 people onboard, became one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries when it disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Malaysia agreed in January to pay U.S. firm Ocean Infinity up to $70 million if it found the plane during an offshore search effort that is underway and expected to end in June.

Boeing Co. has unveiled at its Huntington Beach facility an autonomous, unmanned undersea vehicle that can be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The Echo Voyager, which is 51 feet long, is capable of running on its own, unmanned, for months underwater while being able to dive to 11,000 feet. Echo Voyager is the latest innovation in Boeing’s UUV family, joining the 32-foot Echo Seeker and the 18-foot Echo Ranger. The Voyager is expected to begin sea trials off the California coast in Summer 2016. “Echo Voyager is a new approach to how unmanned undersea vehicles will operate and be used in the future,” said Darryl Davis, president, Boeing Phantom Works. Echo Voyager will begin sea trials off the California coast later this summer.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday mapped out plans for the U.S. Navy to buy more high-end submarines, destroyers, fighter jets and unmanned underwater vehicles using $8 billion in savings generated by scaling back orders for smaller Littoral Combat Ships. Carter said the Pentagon's five-year budget plan also included $2.9 billion to modify Raytheon Co's SM-6 missiles for use as powerful anti-ship weapons, and buy 625 more of the weapons, which are now used for missile defense.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the U.S. Navy in a sharply worded memo this week to buy 12 fewer small littoral combat ships (LCS) and more fighter jets, electronic warfare equipment and other weapons in the upcoming budget year instead. If approved by Congress, the changes would have a huge impact on many big weapons makers, including Lockheed Martin Corp and Australia's Austal Ltd, which would have to compete to build eight remaining LCS ships in fiscal 2019. The Navy had been buying ships in recent years "at the expense of critically-needed investments in areas where our adversaries are not standing still, such as strike, ship survivability, electronic warfare and other capabilities," Carter said. A copy of the memo, first reported by Defense News, was seen by Reuters.

Boeing Co (BA.N) is in "very serious conversations" with five customers about its new Maritime Surveillance Aircraft, a long-range spy plane based on Bombardier's 605 business jet, an executive said on Tuesday. Robert Schoeffling, a senior manager with Boeing's military aircraft division, said it was difficult to predict when the planemaker would receive a first order for the aircraft, but it was likely to happen in the next year or two. Schoeffling gave no names, but said the five potential customers were in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Europe. He said events including the recent focus on disputed man-made islands in the South China Sea were fueling interest.

The United States on Thursday partially lifted a long-time ban on lethal weapon sales to Vietnam to help it improve maritime security, a historic move that comes nearly 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War. "The State Department has taken steps to allow for the future transfer of maritime security-related defense articles to Vietnam," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a briefing. State Department officials told a separate briefing that sales of any specific weapons would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis as requests came in from Vietnam. They said the focus would be on helping Vietnam patrol and defend itself in the South China Sea, amid growing naval challenges from China, but said weapons sales could potentially include airborne systems as well as ships.

The Navy has awarded four Preliminary Design Review (PDR) contracts for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) air vehicle segment. UCLASS will be the first deployed carrier-based unmanned air system. It will provide persistent, unmanned, semi-autonomous, carrier-based Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting (ISR &T) with precision strike capability to support 24/7 carrier operational coverage. The four $15 million firm-fixed price contracts were awarded to Boeing Co., General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp.

The Boeing Co., Anaheim, Calif., is being awarded a $33,888,986 cost plus incentive fee, cost plus fixed fee contract to provide the following efforts for the TRIDENT II (D5) Navigation Subsystem:  (1) engineering support services, and problem investigations for US and UK owned Electro-statically Supported Gyro Navigator (ESGN) navigation inertial equipment, (2) modification, refurbishment, and repair of U.S., and UK ESGN instruments and components, (3) TRIDENT II (D5) shipyard overhaul field engineering, (4) US Fleet Documentation, Surveillance Program, and Training, and (5) US/UK Stable Platform Housing Refurbishment. Work will be p erformed in Anaheim, Calif., (90 percent) and Heath, Ohio, (10 percent), and work is expected to be completed Jun. 2012.

Defense companies, which have suffered mightily on the stock markets of late, took a sharp upturn, led by General Dynamics Corp., which posted strong earnings last Wednesday and was upgraded by brokerage SG Cowen Thursday. Shares of General Dynamics, builder of the Seawolf submarine and M-1 tank, as well as Gulfstream corporate jets, gained as much as 5-1/8 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, before settling back to 55-3/4, up 3-3/4. Exchange. A spate of aerospace- and defense-related companies posted earnings that mostly beat Wall Street expectations Wednesday, including commercial aircraft and defense giant Boeing Co. and United Technologies Corp., which makes engines and helicopters, but also elevators and air conditioning systems.

According to a report in the NY Times and circulated by the major wire services, the U.S. Navy's proposed DD- 21 class of destroyers may be endangered. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the Pentagon budget will have to grow by as much as $70 billion a year to maintain existing weapons systems while moving ahead with new ones such as the DD-21, while President-elect George Bush has proposed increasing military spending by $4.5 billion a year over the next decade, the Times said. The Times said the new administration likely will have to cancel or postpone some major defense programs in development, such as the Air Force's F-22 stealth fighter, made by Lockheed- Martin Corp., the Marine Corp's V-22 Osprey aircraft, a joint project of Textron Inc.

Dutch engineering consultancy Fugro NV said that, together with Boeing Co. and Oceaneering International, it had sealed a partnership to provide underwater survey services. The venture combines the marine experience of Houston-based Oceaneering, an advanced applied technology company, Fugro and the unmanned vehicle and autonomous guidance technology of Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company. The underwater services, to be provided initially for oil and gas exploration and telecommunications markets, will be available by the end of this year. The vehicle should eventually replace towed survey systems that are currently used to collect data.

The Boeing Co. of Wichita, Kansas is being awarded a contract modification for $24b. This action provides for sustaining engineering services in support of the KC-135 series aircraft fleet. At this time no funds have been obligated. 827 ACSW/PK, Tinker Air Force Base, Oka., is the contracting activity.

The Boeing Co., Anaheim, Calif., is being awarded $21.3m contract modification under previously awarded contract (N00030-07-C-0002) to exercise options for TRIDENT II (D5) Navigation Subsystem.Specific efforts include:engineering support services and problem investigations for U.S. and U.K. owned Electrostatically Supported Gyro Navigator (ESGN) navigation inertial equipment, modification, refurbishment, and repair of U.S. and U.K. ESGN instruments and components, TRIDENT II (D5) shipyard overhaul field engineering, U.S. Fleet Documentation, Surveillance Program, and training.Work will be performed in Anaheim, Calif., and is expected…

Boeing Co. (BA) completed its purchase of C-Map, a provider of digital maritime cartography with operations in Italy, the U.K., Norway, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Australia and the U.S. Financial terms weren't disclosed, and Boeing said the deal won't affect its financial guidance. C-Map will become part of Jeppesen's marine division. Jeppesen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. Source: MarketWatch

According to reports, Connexion by Boeing, the satellite broadband Internet service for aircraft, is expanding its service for ships, The Boeing Co. said. Boeing has signed two-year leases with international satellite operator Intelsat for space on two of its satellites, one above the Atlantic Ocean and one above the Indian Ocean. The satellite capacity will be used to provide broadband Internet connections to customers in those regions, it said. Connexion by Boeing's satellite capacity has been largely focused to date on major air routes of its customer airlines. Boeing started talking about a maritime service in 2004 and in the middle of 2005 it announced a deal with Teekay Shipping Corp. to install Connexion by Boeing on 50 of the company's ships.

Prospects for a proposed all-new $30 billion advanced Navy destroyer foundered on Tuesday, undercut by a study carried out for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The boom was lowered on the ship, known as DD 21, by an influential panel advising Rumsfeld on ways to "transform" the U.S. military into a more lethal, agile force. "We didn't see a substantial difference in operational capabilities in the DD 21 compared to the other (existing U.S. Navy) systems," panel chairman James McCarthy told a Pentagon news briefing. Competing to design the destroyer are teams led by General Dynamics Corp.'s Bath Iron Works with Lockheed Martin Corp. on the one hand, and Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Ingalls Shipyard with Raytheon Co. on the other.

U.S. naval forces are poorly equipped to counter a growing mine warfare threat and are about to lose the potentially decisive ability to plant sea minefields of their own, a report for the Navy released on Thursday said. A committee of the National Research Council cited the "largely unregulated sale" of underwater mines by Italy, Sweden, Russia and other ex-Soviet bloc states as contributing to the danger to U.S. mobility. More than 50 countries now possess a sea mining capability, it said. "U.S. naval forces are not now likely to be able to adequately handle the plausible near-term threat of mines either offshore or inshore," said the report, prepared at the request of the chief of naval operations, Admiral Vernon Clark.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. announced it will cut its work force by 5,000 under a new business plan to be drawn up by the end of October. Under the staff-reduction plan, the company plans to cut its total work force to 35,000 from the current 40,000 by the end of 2003-04. The company will reportedly focus more on energy-related business, including gas turbines and fuel cells, and seek to further expand cooperation with Boeing Co. and Airbus Industries in the aviation business. Mitsubishi Heavy also announced that the company is expecting a group net loss of $500 million for the year to March 2000, against a May forecast of nil profit and an actual net profit of $170 million a year ago.