Boeing KC-767 Tanker Win Would Benefit Florida Economy
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 02, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that Florida will benefit from an estimated 1,100 direct and indirect jobs if it is selected to build the U.S. Air Force's new tanker aircraft fleet. The economic activity generated in Florida will exceed an estimated $45 million annually.
"The Florida Chamber is excited at the prospect of so many high-tech, high-wage jobs being brought to Florida. Florida's economy and communities will benefit greatly if Boeing's KC-767 Advanced Tanker is selected as the next-generation tanker," said Frank M. Ryll, president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Boeing formally submitted its proposal to the Air Force on April 10. The offering, the KC-767 Advanced Tanker, is designed for aerial refueling of other aircraft, but also is able to move cargo, passengers, patients and medical crewmembers. These capabilities, combined with best-in-competition fuel efficiency, global flexibility and space usage, provide a strong value proposition to the Air Force.
"We have to deliver the most capable, efficient tanker to win the U.S. Air Force's KC-X competition, and adding Florida's highly skilled workforce to our KC-767 Advanced Tanker team will help us achieve that goal," said Ron Marcotte, vice president and general manager of Boeing Global Mobility Systems.
Florida industry will produce a significant share of the KC-767 Advanced Tanker. Smiths Aerospace in Clearwater will provide multi-function control display units for the Mission Control System. Vought Aircraft in Stuart will provide major structural assemblies. In addition to Smiths and Vought, Florida industry also will provide crew seats, wire bundles, interiors, and electrical, hydraulic and mechanical components for the aircraft systems.
Nationwide, 44,000 Americans and 300 suppliers will design, build and support the Boeing KC-767 Advanced Tanker.
Boeing will assemble the tanker at its facilities in Everett, Wash., using many of the same manufacturing processes that produced almost 1,000 highly reliable and maintainable commercial Boeing 767s. Installation of military refueling systems and flight test activities will take place at the company's finishing center in Wichita, Kan. The Boeing Global Tanker Team producing the KC-767 Advanced Tanker includes Vought Aircraft Industries, Pratt & Whitney, Rockwell Collins, Smiths Aerospace, Honeywell, Spirit AeroSystems and Delta TechOps. This experienced group of partners has proven expertise in aerial refueling systems, network centric operations, integrated avionics solutions and lean manufacturing concepts, which will offer the Air Force high levels of reliability and unique technical advancements.
Boeing has been designing, building, modifying and supporting tankers for nearly 75 years, with hundreds of KC-135s and KC-10s currently in service with the Air Force. The company is flying KC-767s today and has logged nearly 1,000 hours on the tanker platform. Recently, Boeing demonstrated its advanced air refueling systems by transferring fuel through its fifth-generation boom and extending and retracting the fuselage-mounted and wing-mounted air refueling hoses, both critical milestones for the KC-767 program
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Boeing Technology to Help Emirates Manage Rapid Growth of 777 Fleet
SEATTLE, July 31, 2007 -- Two advanced Boeing [NYSE: BA] technologies will combine to help Emirates drive efficiency and maintain performance in its rapidly growing fleet of Boeing 777s and new 747-8s. By the end of this year, the Dubai-based airline will be operating 51 777s. In 2005, the airline ordered 42 777s, and when all of those are in service, the airline is expected to have a fleet of 93 777s.
Emirates will use an in-flight decision-support system, Airplane Health Management (AHM), as well as a software maintenance-support system, Maintenance Performance Toolbox, to help operate and maintain the airplanes during this period of rapid expansion.
"Emirates is dedicated to providing its passengers a superior flying experience, and the combination of these two Boeing products helps maximize that effort," said Iain Lachlan, Emirates' divisional senior vice president - Aircraft Maintenance. "These cutting-edge tools indicate clearly that we are committed to reviewing the latest technologies, and investing and adopting the best, most up-to-date technology to help ensure a safe, reliable and comfortable flight."
Toolbox and AHM are core elements of Boeing's strategy to provide an integrated suite of products to e-Enable the air transport system. Central to the effort is the idea that data, information and knowledge are collected and shared across an entire enterprise and its supply chain, so that airlines operate at the highest levels of operational and environmental efficiency. Emirates is the latest airline to adopt multiple e-Enabled products, which interact seamlessly and enhance the value that each would provide an airline individually.
"With this decision, Emirates is sending an industrywide message about how to drive efficiency and performance," said Dan da Silva, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services. "We couldn't ask for a better validation of our products than an endorsement like this from one of the world's premier airlines." Airplane Health Management supports long-term fleet-reliability programs by helping airlines identify and respond to faults proactively. The goal is to help airlines operate at the highest levels of reliability and efficiency.
In addition to monitoring Emirates' expanding 777 fleet, AHM will also monitor the airline's fleet of 747s. Emirates ordered 10 747-8 Freighters last year and is AHM's launch customer for the 747-8. Airplane Health Management now provides real-time monitoring and decision support for 42 percent of the world's 777s and 31 percent of its 747-400s.
Toolbox, which is rapidly becoming a must-have software package for efficiency-conscious carriers, represents the industry's first set of productivity tools designed to unify an airline's maintenance and engineering operations from start to finish. In all, 39 air carriers have signed up for Toolbox since it was introduced 20 months ago. Toolbox today comprises six different tools that can help airlines streamline a wide range of maintenance and repair activities. Airlines can pick only the tools that they want to meet their specific needs.
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Boeing Awarded U.S. Marine Corps Contract to Extend ScanEagle Services
ST. LOUIS, July 31, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has been awarded a three and one half-year, $18 million U.S. Marine Corps contract to provide additional ScanEagle® intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support services to the Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF). Boeing, in partnership with Insitu, Inc., developers of ScanEagle, make up Team ScanEagle.
ScanEagle, a long-endurance, fully autonomous unmanned aircraft, has been used by the Marines since July 2004, the U.S. Navy since September 2005 and the Australian Defense Forces since November 2006. During that time, ScanEagles have flown more than 4,600 sorties and 50,000 flight hours, including 34,000 hours with the MEF.
The contract, awarded by the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., includes options for additional support that could increase the contract value to $381.5 million.
The initial agreement calls for several system upgrades, including the new ScanEagle Block D air vehicle, Rover III forward display system compatibility, an enhanced infrared payload and a mode C transponder.
"These enhancements to the ScanEagle system will broaden its base of operations and allow it to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week," said Jim Havard, Boeing MEF program manager.
"We are pleased to have the opportunity to further serve the Marine Corps in force protection and associated missions, and with this long-term commitment, we can continue to enhance capability while expanding our Marine Corps operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the global war on terror," said Don Haas, Insitu director of Operations Support.
A ScanEagle air vehicle carries inertially stabilized electro-optical and infrared cameras. The gimbaled cameras allow the operator to easily track both stationary and moving targets. Capable of flying above 16,000 feet, the platform provides persistent low-altitude reconnaissance.
ScanEagle is launched autonomously via a pneumatic SuperWedge™ catapult launcher and flies pre-programmed or operator-initiated missions. An Insitu-patented SkyHook™ system is used for retrieval, with the aircraft catching a rope suspended from a 50-foot-high tower. The patented system makes the ScanEagle system runway-independent with a small footprint similar to that needed for vertical takeoff and landing vehicles.
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NAIROBI, Kenya, July 30, 2007 -- Representatives from Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Kenya Airways were on hand this past Thursday to mark the launch of the airline's new training and leadership facility named "The Pride Centre."
Located just outside the Kenyan capital, the newly refurbished facility was purchased by Kenya Airways in 2005 and modeled on Boeing's Leadership Center in St. Louis. A Kenya Airways fact-finding team recently visited Boeing's training facility and Rolls-Royce's Training Centre located just outside its headquarters in Derby, UK. Boeing has consulted with the airline on The Pride Centre's design and layout and is currently working with Kenya Airways' management on course development and exploring opportunities for future on-site training.
Lee Monson, Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of Sales for the Middle East and Africa, was invited as the honored guest at Kenya Airways' inaugural ceremony for The Pride Centre.
"Leadership development is important to Boeing's strategy for continued success," Monson said. "It's rewarding to work with an airline customer that shares an ideology to invest in human resources and is working to develop future leaders -- not just for its own company, but also to the benefit of the entire Kenyan business enterprise."
Beyond airline-specific training tools, such as 787 door trainers that will be installed in 2008, The Pride Centre will serve to develop skill sets at the managerial and executive level through specialized course training based on proven leadership attributes.
Kenya Airways' Managing Director and CEO Titus Naikuni has been a driving force in the airline's strategy to enhance Kenya's infrastructure on a multitude of levels.
"The opening of The Pride Centre is another milestone event for Kenya Airways as we work towards building a more successful tomorrow for the airline and for Kenya as a whole," Naikuni said. "We appreciate Boeing's commitment to our working relationship and value their participation in helping make this training and leadership centre a regional success in East Africa."
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ST. LOUIS, July 30, 2007 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and its TEAM TSAT industry partners today submitted a proposal to the U.S. Air Force for the Development and Production phase of the Transformational Satellite Communications System Space Segment (TSAT) program.
"TEAM TSAT offers unique capability and experience to the U.S. Air Force," said Howard Chambers, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. "That value is based on our 25-year heritage providing military satellite communications and our best-of-industry team, which has successfully delivered the most capable terrestrial and satellite communications network systems in service today."
Delivery of the proposal caps more than three years of work on the TSAT Space Segment Risk Reduction System Definition contract. During that time, Boeing has demonstrated TSAT's advanced capabilities and technology maturity through successful laser communications and Next Generation Processor Router demonstrations. Additional demonstrations across all key elements of the TSAT network culminated with the comprehensive, integrated, end-to-end demo at the Space Segment Design Review in April. These risk reduction efforts have confirmed compliance with standards, interoperability and mission-level performance.
"Our partners and suppliers make our proposal stand out," said Chambers. "This is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Our team has the people, processes, tools and capabilities that precisely match the Air Force's needs."
Boeing and its partners look forward to continued collaboration with the Air Force and stand ready to begin work immediately upon contract award, which is anticipated in November. Boeing will build TSAT at its satellite factory in El Segundo, Calif.
Boeing's TEAM TSAT consists of Cisco Systems, Hughes, IBM, Harris Corp., Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., LGS Innovations, Raytheon, General Dynamics C4S, L-3 Communications, BBN Technologies, EMS Technologies, Innovative Communications Engineering and SAIC.
