Boeing’s future in St. Louis is in jeopardy if the U.S. Department of Defense follows through on proposed budget cuts to the two primary military aircraft designed and built here.



more here

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/05/11/story1.html

I hate to use the oft-kicked-around phrase "we can't let them fail," but from a national security perspective it seems imprudent to make a move that leaves us with only one potential US-owned contractor for fighter jets/transport/etc.

That would be absolutely devastating!!! When will this seeming endless parade of job losses in manufacturing end?? The amount of jobs that could be lost at Boeing could be staggering. On top of that, the trickle down effect would run very deep here. I put Boeing up there with AB, in that regard. Not only will 3rd party vendors be affected, but think of the way these people stimulate the local economy. It is hard to replace these good paying jobs. Same with Chrysler. It is really getting horrible out there. Lets keep our fingers crossed on this one [-o< !!!

I believe Inno an Zink work at Boeing, any info?

^I used to work for them. I will see what I can dig up.

Moorlander wrote:I believe Inno an Zink work at Boeing, any info?

Zink doesn't work at Boeing but has an affinity for aerospace.



Due to the vastness of the JSF (F-35) contract, awarding it solely to one corporation was a major blow to the diversity of the American fighter industrial base. Only one fighter company would remain -- Lockheed Martin. Boeing was hoping that the overbudget F-35 would spur the government into bolstering the F-18 Hornet for a while longer. Instead, the F-35 remains fully funded and the F-18 faces a 1/3 budget cut in 2010.



It appears that the C-17 has been ordered for termination. This would mostly affect Southern California, but still affects the IDS defense unit headquartered in St. Louis.



The multibillion dollar tanker contract is still in the air. There were rumors that Congress would split it, but they have recently decided to go sole source. This mostly impacts Wichita and Seattle, yet a fair amount of jobs in St. Louis support it as well.



Boeing has made strides in diversifying its portfolio via efforts in Future Combat Systems. Unfortunately, this program faces cuts as well.



So what does this mean? I checked the latest annual report for some information. In 2008, the total number of new-build production aircraft was 99. F/A 18 models accounted for 45 or slightly less than 50% of that amount. If the F/A 18 budget were to be cut by 1/3, that would be a fair contraction.



My personal view is that Boeing will have to work to bolster F/A 18 funding in the near term while we plan ways to diversify and strengthen our defense portfolio. One of the best ways will be to dominate the market for unmanned aircraft. To that end, enter some hope in the newly-announced "Phantom Ray." Additionally, perhaps IDS can leverage its strengths in technology and system integration to make headway in the energy/environmental sectors, which seem to be a priority in the current administration.



If Boeing IDS has trouble adapting to this new challenge, there will be negative impacts to not only Boeing jobs here, but those of our suppliers as well.



While I personally don't feel overly concerned now, I think we will have a clearer picture of the impacts as 2010 nears. It doesn't look rosy.

Congress has approved funding of eight more C-17's. This is good news for St. Louis as 900 jobs in Hazelwood are tied to this project.



More at



St. Louis Business Journal

Not good news for Boeing and those who work on the Super Hornet.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 81850.html

DogtownBnR wrote:PS_ Thank you Edward Snowden!

Don't blame Edward Snowden -- he didn't spy on Brazil. Blame the federal government and especially the NSA because the latter is the entity that did.

So your telling me that the US is the only country that spies?

DogtownBnR wrote:So your telling me that the US is the only country that spies?

I didn't say that but it has little to do with this. The NSA's spying damaged our reputation in Brazil and likely would have hurt their leaders had they followed through with the deal.

Boeing will receive a significant f18 order the second qrt of next year. Hopefully from the Navy. Secondly work for the kc135 is occurring in stl , plus there's rumors of the uclass being manufacturered now locally. Lastly I would expect a grippen variant to be manufactured in stl oncr Boeing wins T-x. The stl site is very viable.

Hero? Maybe. Reason that Brazil didn't purchase dozens of F-A-18 Super Hornets ensuring hundreds of St. Louis manufacturing jobs for years to come? Definitely.

Is it just me or is the headline of this thread a bit ironic in retrospect due to things that has happened since the thread opened? Mainly that a number of operations have or will relocate here in the defense side of Boeing and that there will be parts manufacturing for Boeing commercial planes here in the future, which was something that did not happen locally under McDonnell-Douglas

imperialmog wrote:Is it just me or is the headline of this thread a bit ironic in retrospect due to things that has happened since the thread opened? Mainly that a number of operations have or will relocate here in the defense side of Boeing and that there will be parts manufacturing for Boeing commercial planes here in the future, which was something that did not happen locally under McDonnell-Douglas

I made a minor modification to the thread title.

Boeing has leased a lot more office space in northwest county over the last few years from what I've heard.

I think Boeing is going to have a much larger presence here than we all believe which is good

More good news coming from Boeing's commercial airplane expansion in St. Louis: MC Industrial building $80 million Boeing 777X parts facility Great to see the 777X and F-22 work moving to St. Louis to supplement the F/A-18 assembly line.

PD had an update on bomber acquisition program. I think this would be a huge win for Boeing and specifically the St. Louis region. I can't help but speculate that some of the incentives proposed for Boeing to relocate commercial production here for 777 is being discussed and somehow incorporated into Boeing's overall pricing proposal. In addition, wonder if Boeing having fuel tanker deal helps them or not?

U.S. Air Force sees bomber contract in one to two months

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... c21ae.html

In addition, Boeing award will most likely result in a major shakeout of the three military aircraft builders vying for the bomber contract. That would also strengthen St. Louis aviation position.