Boeing Hits Military Jackpot Pentagon Budget Allocates Billions For Company Products

The Pentagon wants to spend over $8.3 billion with the Boeing Co. to buy jet aircraft, helicopters and other weapons in the next fiscal year, according to budget documents released Monday.

The sum represents a major increase in military awards for Boeing, due mainly to the company’s $16.3 billion acquisition last summer of St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas Corp., a manufacturer of such ongoing Pentagon programs as the C-17 jet transport.

Prior to the merger, Boeing had focused mainly on building commercial airliners. The company had won only $1.7 billion in contract awards for military projects in fiscal 1996.

At the time, Boeing was rated as the Pentagon’s eight-largest defense manufacturer in terms of annual contract awards, while McDonnell Douglas was No. 2 with $9.9 billion in Pentagon sales.

But the acquisition will catapult Boeing to near the top of the list of the Pentagon’s richest contractors. Lockheed-Martin Corp., headquartered in Bethesda, Md., is expected to retain the No. 1 rank.

Among the major Boeing projects that the Pentagon is asking Congress to pay for in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 are:

$3.2 billion for 13 C-17 transports;

$3.27 billion for 30 F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter-bombers;

$1 billion for seven V-22 Osprey aircraft;

$377.9 million for 12 AV-8B Harrier jump jets;

$363.9 million for 15 T-45 trainer jets;

$118.5 million for a new bomb that will be guided to a target by satellite beacons.

In addition, the Pentagon budget asks for funds for Boeing-built space launch vehicles and weapons the company is developing jointly with other companies, such as new missiles, the F-22 Air Force fighter, new jet aircraft projects and helicopter upgrades potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars once the systems enter full production.

If Congress approves the Pentagon plan, some of the new spending would go to the many subcontractors building components for the weapons.

The budget comes on the heels of a tough year for Boeing. The nation’s top exporter lost $178 million in 1997 as it struggled to integrate McDonnell Douglas.