最新杏吧原创

The company is becoming more open to projects where it serves not as the lead, or 鈥減rime鈥� contractor, but as a subcontractor or partner, said Bernd Peters, vice president of business development and strategy.

鈥淚n areas where it makes sense for us to continue to be the prime (contractor), absolutely we will do that. But we are opening up the aperture, in instances where it makes sense,鈥� Peters said.

It wouldn鈥檛 be an entirely new tactic for the company, which is a subcontractor on Lockheed Martin鈥檚 F-22.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got to get away from that, 鈥榠t鈥檚 got to be made here鈥� mentality,鈥� Peters said. 鈥淚f the capability already exists out there, there鈥檚 no pride in us saying 鈥榠t鈥檚 got to be made here.鈥� We will pull it from our suppliers.鈥�

At Boeing鈥檚 complex near 最新杏吧原创 Lambert Airport in Berkeley, the company plans to end new-build production of the F/A-18 fighter in 2027. Elsewhere on the campus, staff have designed the layout for a manufacturing line to build the T-7 trainer plane, and expect the first parts to arrive later this year. At a brand new, 300,000-square-foot factory across the river in Mascoutah, workers will begin assembling MQ-25 refueling drones later this year.

And the company is building a 1.1 million-square-foot manufacturing site next to its Berkeley offices for undisclosed programs.

In the world of aerospace, where decisions play out over the course of decades, Boeing is managing with choices made years ago. Airplanes that first hit the skies more than 40 years ago are still churned out of factories here, packed with new technology and equipment. A development program conceived in the 2010s may not deliver planes until the 2030s.

At the same time, the pandemic-era economy changed the industry鈥檚 views on how aerospace companies should get paid.

Boeing and its peers went into the COVID-19 pandemic on the hook for fixed-price contracts, meaning that if costs run higher than expected, the manufacturers have to cover the difference. The next few years brought inflation, supply chain problems and historic labor shortages. Losses on those programs accelerated.

鈥淲e all went into those eyes wide open to what we were signing up to. What we didn鈥檛 see coming was a pandemic,鈥� said Steve Nordlund, senior site executive for Boeing 最新杏吧原创.

Sean Liedman, Boeing鈥檚 director of global reach, said Defense Department officials and executives across the industry have been re-examining that deal structure.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e seen defense executives and the Department having this conversation about how that model placed too much risk upon industry,鈥� Liedman said. 鈥淚 think that we and our government partner have come to realize that that鈥檚 not the right contracting model.鈥�

The 最新杏吧原创-made T-7 trainer plane and MQ-25 refueling drone are both fixed-price programs.

And as the company prepares to retire one of its longtime fighter jet lines, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, leaders are placing bets on new programs.

For a view of the company鈥檚 long-range goals, observers may look across the street from the company鈥檚 offices in Berkeley, to a plot of land where construction workers broke ground about six months ago on a new manufacturing site.

Nordlund told reporters on a recent tour that the project represents 鈥渁 pretty big bet for the Boeing company.鈥� Officials confirmed this week that it will serve as a manufacturing facility for 鈥渁dvanced combat aircraft.鈥�

Some analysts believe the site is tied to the competition to build the next generation of fighter jet, or NGAD, for the Air Force, but given the secrecy of that program and Boeing鈥檚 classified work, there isn鈥檛 a firm consensus. Neither the company nor the service have confirmed that Boeing is a competitor.

Air Force officials have hinted, in recent weeks, that they are contemplating a delay to the competition. Some analysts point, as a cause, to budget constraints as the Air Force spends on modernization. Others suspect that the Air Force could be changing its view on what type of aircraft it wants.

Nordlund said he couldn鈥檛 say whether the company is competing for that program, whether the expansion project is tied to the NGAD competition, or what other programs may one day occupy the site. (Boeing has said the overall $1.8 billion expansion project is intended for 鈥渘ew aerospace programs,鈥� suggesting that the project doesn鈥檛 hinge on any one contract.)

But, he said, while the company estimates finishing the site in 2026, it has 鈥渄ials that we can turn鈥� left or right, depending on what happens.

鈥淲e will take it one day at a time,鈥� Nordlund said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e trying to lean forward to be ready for whatever our customer wants to do.鈥�