urbanSTL

Site work has begun for construction of an aircraft assembly building that is a part of The Boeing Co’s. $1.8 billion expansion project at its north St. Louis County operations.
Earth movers in recent days have been rumbling across the 106-acre site bounded by Interstate 170, Airport Road and James S. McDonnell Boulevard. Boeing (NYSE: BA) said site work began in the first quarter this year and estimates completion of the assembly building in 2026.

Building permits granted last December to the joint venture of Paric Corp./Barton Malow state the work to be performed as “site grading” and “footing and foundation of the Assembly Building." A notice from St. Louis Lambert International Airport says Boeing has approval for construction of an assembly building. A report prepared by the Jacobs engineering firm for the airport last year said a 979,000-square-foot aircraft assembly building would be constructed, along with an 82,000-square-foot central utility plant. What aircraft will be assembled on the land, known as the Brownleigh property, remains shrouded in secrecy, although signs indicate that it could be a sixth-generation fighter jet. Boeing declined comment Wednesday on that matter.
Boeing in July 2023 proposed a $1.8 billion expansion project that would create 500 job. The massive investment is partially contingent on Boeing winning classified Pentagon contracts.
Defense News reported that the U.S. Air Force plans to award a contract for its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) platform this year. Boeing confirmed last year that it was competing with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for the contracts to build the U.S. Navy’s next-generation fighter jet program, called the F/A-XX. Companies also are vying for Pentagon contracts for potentially thousands of autonomous wingmen drones to counter a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan and create a swarming effect in other conflicts.

billikens_19 wrote: ↑

Apr 24, 2024

With USAF announcing today that Boeing was not selected to move forward in the Collaborate Combat Aircraft completion (aka unmanned loyal wingman), we all better hope Boeing is selected for the NGAD competition. If Boeing loses NGAD as well, that would be a huge blow to St. Louis, and all of that planned expansion near the airport will likely be cancelled if not significantly scaled back.


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The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $7.5 billion contract to The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) to manufacture more kits to convert bombs into “smart” munitions at its St. Charles facility.
The sole-source contract is expected to be completed by Feb. 29, 2030, with Boeing providing Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits, spare parts, repairs, technical assistance and sensor kits.

The tail kit converts unguided, free-falling bombs into guided ones through a navigational system and a global positioning system control unit. Once released from a fighter jet or bomber, the JDAM autonomously navigates to the designated target coordinates, according to the U.S. Air Force. Defense News reported that the contract comes at a time when the U.S. military is worried about its ability to stock enough munitions for its own arsenal, as well as to support allies such as Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel. Depending on how many JDAM kits are purchased by the Air Force per year, the cost ranges from about $25,000 to $84,000 each, the publication reported.
Based in Arlington, Va., Boeing Defense, Space & Security has extensive operations in the St. Louis area, including production of the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the F-15 Eagle fighter jets.
JDAM, which is a joint Air Force and U.S. Navy program, has been in production since May 1998 at Boeing’s St. Charles facility. A Boeing spokesperson declined to comment on whether the defense contractor would need to hire additional employees in St. Charles.
The $7.48 billion contract award includes funding from the Navy and $228.2 million from foreign military sales. The May 24 announcement didn’t provide details on the foreign sales.
The contract comes a month after Boeing acquired GKN Aerospace St. Louis LLC, saving about 550 jobs that would have been lost if the Hazelwood parts factory had closed at the end of this year. The purchase provided “continuity of the production and sustainment of critical parts" for the St. Louis-made F/A-18 and the F-15, Boeing said.

Site work began in the first quarter of this year for construction of an aircraft assembly building that is a part of Boeing's $1.8 billion expansion project at its north St. Louis County operations. Boeing estimates completion of the assembly building in 2026 on the 106-acre site bounded by Interstate 170, Airport Road and James S. McDonnell Boulevard.

framer wrote: ↑

Jun 06, 2024

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft - with two astronauts aboard - is finally on its way to the International Space Station. It has a couple of minor leaks, but NASA says all is well. 

STLEnginerd wrote: ↑

Jun 06, 2024

flipz wrote: ↑

Jun 06, 2024

framer wrote: ↑

Jun 06, 2024

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft - with two astronauts aboard - is finally on its way to the International Space Station. It has a couple of minor leaks, but NASA says all is well. 

I don't know that I would get on that thing after so many cancellations.

This is such a dumb line of thinking.  Firstly scrubbing a flight is common.  Secondly the fact that they are scrubbing flights rather than proceeding at risk is a GOOD thing at least for and occupied spacecraft.  Cargo stuff maybe it makes sense to carry more risk.  Also while there have been setbacks and delays there have been minimal actual failures in flight.  Most issues are identified on the ground and addressed without putting personnel at risk.  The issues that affected the program  were ridiculously painful for the company but were pretty benign in the cause.  OFT 1 failed because a incorrectly set clock caused the engines to turn on too early in the flight and the craft landed safely after an automated abort.  One little thing.  Its important but it doesn't reflect the hard work people went through to make the other 99.99% of the spacecraft operate flawlessly.  The scrubbed lauch of OFT2 was driven by a valve failure which was driven by moisture in the lines making the valves fail and stick, which happened because a flight was scrubbed after cryogenic fueling of the spacecraft on a wet day and then an abort of the launch.  Procedurally they failed to inert the system post fueling allowing the water to infiltrate.  Again a little thing.  Important but not reflective of the companies overall performance on the program in any significant way.  One tiny flaw and a lot of bad luck.
A large part of the delays was driven by the fact that there are only 2 dock ports on the space station and one of those was always occupied by a "life boat capsule" which meant windows for actually launching to the station were severely limited and those windows of time being unavailable does not necessarily reflect on the companies readiness to deliver a vehicle.

If people want to fanboy for Musk that's fine.  He took a big risk with the recovery of rockets post launch that many (myself included) thought was far-fetched science fiction.  He FAILED MANY times on the way to success, losing several rockets and the occasional launch facility along the way.  Credit where its due.

If people want to question Boeing in any number of ways for I have no idea why and a near complete absence of facts and context, ok I guess that's fine to.  You do you.

But they literally just proved the thing is flight worthy.  Not only that they are literally telling you hey yeah even though we don't think its an issue but in the interest of full disclosure there is a small helium leak in our spacecraft that we are monitoring.  They don't HAVE to make this stuff public.  NASA and Boeing could sit on it in order to not feed the online trolls, antagonists and propagandists.  But they do it anyway because they want to project the values they claim to have.  In return they get some really stupid people negging on them for their trouble.

People who have no chance of ever taking the personal risk of flying on any spacecraft and have not ever had an inkling to even try to pursue such a calling sitting around saying "I don't know that I would get on that thing after so many cancellations." does rub me the wrong way.

gone corporate wrote: ↑

Jun 10, 2024

flipz wrote: ↑

Jun 06, 2024

framer wrote: ↑

Jun 06, 2024

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft - with two astronauts aboard - is finally on its way to the International Space Station. It has a couple of minor leaks, but NASA says all is well. 

I don't know that I would get on that thing after so many cancellations.

Perhaps that is why you never became an astronaut.