Trump picks Boeing over Lockheed for major fighter jet contract
On Friday, the president of the United States Donald Trump assigned the contract to build the most sophisticated combat jet of the American Air Force, delivering to the company, delivering a victory so necessary and increasing its actions.
The next generation Air Dominance (Ngad) program will replace the Rapace F-22 of Lockheed Martin with a crew plane built to enter combat together with the drones.
Trump, the 47th president, announced the name of the new Jet, the F-47.
“We have given an order for a long time. We cannot tell you the price,” Trump said to journalists in the oval office.
Boeing actions increased by five percent after the US company beat Lockheed Martin for the agreement. Lockheed actions decreased by almost seven percent.
“Our allies constantly call,” added Trump, saying that foreign sales could be an option. “They want to buy them too.”
While Boeing declares himself guilty of a conspiracy accusation for criminal fraud linked to two fatal accidents, the national team divides what happened to the reputation of the aviation giant and if its planes are safer.
For Boeing, the victory marks a makeshift reversal for a company that has fought on both commercial and defense of its business. He is a great impulse for his production activity of St. Louis Jet.
Loss is another hard blow to Lockheed after it was eliminated from the competition to build the invisible fighter based on next generation vectors of the Navy, and between the growing discontent from the Pentagon for delays in the updating of its F-35 combat jet.
In recent weeks, Trump has met the CEO of Lockheed Jim Taiclet to discuss the F-35, according to three sources.
The engineering contract and manufacturing development is valid for over $ 20 billion in the United States. Boeing’s victory means that it will make the jet fighter and receive orders for a value of hundreds of billions of dollars compared to life at several decades of the contract.
“We recognize the importance of designing, building and providing a sixth generation combat capacity for the United States aeronautics,” said Steve Parker, who guides Boeing’s defense activity. “In preparation for this mission, we made the most significant investments in the history of our defense activity”.
The design of the plane remains a strictly kept secret, but probably would include stealth, advanced sensors and cutting -edge engines.
“Compared to the F-22, the F-47 will cost less and will be more adaptable to future-e threats we will have more than the F-47 in our inventory,” said the head of the Air Force staff, General David Allvin.
Ngad was conceived as a “family of systems” focused on a sixth generation fighter to counter opponents such as China and Russia.
Allvin said that the F-47 will have a significantly longer, invisible more advanced interval and will be more easily supported than the F-22.
Important victory for Boeing in difficulty
Boeing’s commercial operations fought while trying to restore his best -selling Jet Max 737 production to full speed, while his defense operation has been weighed down by underprivating contracts for supplies tanker in mid -air, drones and training jets.
“Victory is a great impulse for the company, which has fought with the overcoming of the costs, the delays of program and the execution on other programs of the Department of Defense,” said Roman Schweizer, TD Cowen analyst.
The overloads of costs to the KC-46 mid-air cargoing car shop have passed the United States of $ 7 billion in recent years, while another fixed price contract to update two Air Force One has created an US loss of 2 billion dollars for the first defense of the United States.
The Boeing unit that produces passenger jet has faced an intense control from a series of crisis including an emergency in mid -air in January 2024 which involves a new Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 missing four key bolts. In January, Boeing recorded an annual loss of the United States of 11.8 billion dollars – the largest since 2020 – due to problems in its main units, together with repercussions from a strike that closed the production of most of its jets.
A plug on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 flew away to just under 5,000 meters, creating a hole on the side of the Boeing 737 max 9. Andrew Chang crosses what happened moment by moment while the plane has made an emergency landing.
Boeing also sold to the ground in Airbus in the delivery tender and entered the viewfinder of regulators and customers following fake steps. The Federal Aviation Administration at the beginning of 2024 imposed a monthly production limit.
“Although disappointed by this result, we are confident of having delivered a competitive solution,” said Lockheed in a note. “We will wait for further discussions with the American aeronautics.”
While Lockheed could still protest against the government prize in Boeing, the fact that Trump has announced the agreement in a high -profile press conference could reduce the possibility of a public transmission of topics against the agreement of the defense company based in Bethesda, MD.
The Boeing prize raised congratulations from the democratic senator Mark Kelly, but warned: “A program of this size and complexity requires careful supervision to make sure that it does not remain behind or has a cost”.
The billionaire and presidential councilor Elon Musk expressed skepticism on the effectiveness of high -end fighters, stating that the cheapest drones were a better option.
