Latest news with #F-47
Canada News.Net
a day ago
- Business
- Canada News.Net
Contract rejected: Boeing faces defense worker strike threat
ST. LOUIS, Missouri: Boeing is bracing for a strike at its defense manufacturing hub in the St. Louis area after unionized workers voted down a proposed labor contract. The rejection, described as "overwhelming" by the union, puts production of key military aircraft at risk, including the U.S. Air Force's new F-47 fighter jet. On July 22, more than 3,200 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 837 were presented with the offer. The proposal included a 20 percent general wage increase over four years, a US$5,000 ratification bonus, and expanded vacation and sick leave benefits. However, union leaders said the offer failed to adequately reflect the contributions and sacrifices of the skilled workforce. "The proposal from Boeing Defense fell short of addressing the priorities and sacrifices of the skilled IAM Union workforce," the union said in a statement. Boeing expressed disappointment at the outcome. "We are disappointed Boeing employees voted down the richest contract offer we've ever presented to IAM 837, which addressed all their stated priorities," said Dan Gillian, vice president and general manager of Boeing's Air Dominance division, and senior executive at the St. Louis site. Gillian added that the company has activated its contingency plan and is preparing for a possible strike. No additional negotiations are currently scheduled between Boeing and the union. The current contract expires on Sunday. After that, a seven-day cooling-off period will begin, meaning a strike could begin as early as the following weekend. Boeing's defense operations in the St. Louis region are expanding, particularly to support the production of the F-47 fighter jet. The company secured the contract for the aircraft earlier this year as part of the U.S. Air Force's broader modernization plans. The F-47 is part of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, a cutting-edge initiative to replace the aging F-22 Raptor fleet. Designed as a "family of systems" centered on a sixth-generation fighter jet, NGAD represents the future of air combat capabilities for the U.S. military.
Axios
a day ago
- Business
- Axios
Navy nominee wants futuristic fighter despite White House doubts
The U.S. Navy needs sixth-generation fighter jets to remain relevant and avoid retrofitting and buying additional older aircraft, like the F-35, according to President Trump's pick to be chief of naval operations. Why it matters: Trump's fiscal 2026 budget blueprint iced such a warplane, the F/A-XX, in favor of the Air Force counterpart, the F-47. This looks like a split between the White House and a top nominee, Adm. Daryl Caudle, over a multibillion-dollar endeavor. What they're saying: "Nothing in the joint force projects combat power from the sea as a carrier strike group, which at the heart has a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN)," Caudle told Congress in written testimony last week. "To maintain this striking power, the CVN must have an air wing that is comprised of the most advanced strike fighters." Catch up quick: F/A-XX has been in the works for years, most recently pitting Boeing and Northrop Grumman against each other for the lucrative contract. The secretive aircraft is said to be stealthy and capable of interfacing with robo-wingmen. It's meant to succeed the Super Hornet, recently deployed against Houthi harassment in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Without a proper replacement, Caudle told lawmakers, the Navy will have to lean on existing technologies in an "attempt to compete with the new 6th generation aircraft that the threat is already flying." Friction point: The White House is adamant U.S. industry can't handle F/A-XX and F-47 (also led by Boeing) simultaneously.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Boeing CEO says defense business can weather looming worker strike
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Tuesday he's not worried about the impact of an impending strike that would include 3,200 union workers that produce fighter aircraft and munitions at factories in Missouri and Illinois. The threat of a strike follows the employees' rejection Sunday of Boeing's most recent contract proposal. The International Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union said in statement a strike could begin Aug. 4 if the parties don't reach a deal before the end of a weeklong cooling off period. Ortberg noted during the company's second quarter earnings call that the scope of the potential strike — which includes mechanics in plants in St. Louis and St. Charles, Missouri — would be much smaller than that of the 30,000-worker strike last fall. During that strike, the company took a $661 million charge on its KC-46 tanker development contract with the U.S. Air Force, in part due to work stoppages on the Air Force's KC-46 tanker. 'We'll manage through this,' he said. 'I wouldn't worry too much about the implications of the strike.' Along with the KC-46, Boeing holds contracts for several major Defense Department programs, including the Air Force's F-47 and F-15EX fighters, T-7 training jet and the Air Force One recapitalization effort. Ortberg, who took over as CEO nearly a year ago, said the company is making a 'turnaround,' after taking major losses in 2024. On the defense side, the firm is making 'renewed efforts around baseline and risk management' on key military programs. The goal is to get to 'high single-digit' profit margins in the near future. One of those efforts is to avoid entering into fixed-price development contracts with DOD, which put the company at risk of accruing major charges from the government for exceeding cost and schedule targets. Boeing's KC-46 work offers a cautionary tale for this approach, after years of quality problems and overages have resulted in more than $7 billion in additional costs for the company. 'We're not making the errors of the past and signing up for fixed-price development, high-risk programs,' Ortberg said, noting that while the company carries several major development programs, it's working closely with the DOD to de-risk that work. 'We're just going to have to keep doing that,' he said. Sign in to access your portfolio
Gulf Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Today
Billions for arms, rather than troops, won't make us safer
William D. Hartung, Tribune News Service The Pentagon got a whopping $150 billion increase in the budget bill passed by Congress and signed by the president July 4. That will push next year's proposed Pentagon budget to more than $1 trillion. Most of that enormous amount will go to weapons manufacturers. A new report by the Quincy Institute and the Costs of War Project at Brown University found that for the period from 2020 to 2024, more than half of the Pentagon budget — 54% — went to private companies. That figure has climbed considerably since the immediate post-Cold War period of the 1990s, when the contractor share was 41%. The surge of spending on the Pentagon and its primary weapons suppliers won't necessarily make us safer. It may just enrich military companies while subsidising overpriced, underperforming weapons systems, even as it promotes an accelerated arms race with China. While weapons firms will fare well if the new budget goes through as planned, military personnel and the veterans who have fought in America's wars in this century will not. The Donald Trump administration is seeking deep cuts in personnel, facilities and research at the Veterans Affairs, and tens of thousands of military families have to use food stamps, a program cut by 20% in the budget bill, to make ends meet. The $150 billion in add-ons for the Pentagon include tens of billions for the Trump administration's all-but-impossible dream of a leak-proof Golden Dome missile defense system, a goal that has been pursued for more than 40 years without success. Other big winners include the new F-47 combat aircraft, and the military shipbuilding industry, which is slated for a huge infusion of new funding. The question of how to allocate the Pentagon's orgy of weapons spending is complicated by the fact that there are now two powerful factions within the arms industry fighting over the department's budget, the traditional Big Five, composed of Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Boeing, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, and emerging military tech firms such as SpaceX, Palantir and Anduril. The Big Five currently get the bulk of Pentagon weapons spending, but the emerging tech firms are catching up, winning lucrative contracts for military-wide communications systems and antidrone technology. And there will be more such contracts. Even after the public falling out between Elon Musk and the president, the emerging tech firms have a decided advantage, with advocates such as Vice President JD Vance, who maintains close ties with his mentor and political supporter Peter Thiel of Palantir, and dozens of staff members from military tech firms who are now embedded in the national security and budget bureaucracies of the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the tech sector's promises of a new, revolutionary era of defense made possible by artificial-intelligence-driven weapons and other technologies are almost certainly overstated. If past practice tells us anything, it is that new, complex high-tech weapons will not save us. The history of Pentagon procurement is littered with 'miracle weapons,' from the electronic battlefield in Vietnam to Ronald Reagan's 'impenetrable' Star Wars missile shield to networked warfare and precision-guided bombs used in the Iraq and Afghan wars. When push came to shove, these highly touted systems either failed to work as advertised, or were irrelevant to the kinds of wars they were being used in. Just one example: Despite the fact that the Pentagon spent well over $10 billion to find a system that could neutralise improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan, only modest progress was made. Even after the new technology was deployed, 40% of could not be cleared. Technology is a tool, but it is not the decisive factor in winning wars or deterring adversaries. An effective military should be based on well-trained, well-compensated and highly motivated troops. That means taking some of that 54% of the Pentagon budget that goes to contractors and investing in supporting the people who are actually tasked with fighting America's wars.
The Sun
4 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Boeing workers reject contract, threaten strike at US fighter jet plants
ST. LOUIS: Workers at Boeing's fighter jet assembly plants in Missouri and Illinois have rejected the company's latest contract proposal, raising the threat of a strike that could disrupt production of key US military aircraft. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) announced Sunday that over 3,200 members voted against the offer, which included a 20 percent pay raise over four years and additional vacation days. The union stated the proposal failed to address job security concerns and worker priorities. 'IAM Union members delivered a clear message: the proposal from Boeing Defense fell short of addressing the priorities and sacrifices of the skilled workforce,' the union said. With the current contract expiring Sunday, workers have a seven-day window to negotiate before a potential walkout. Boeing expressed disappointment, calling it the 'richest contract offer' ever presented to IAM 837. Dan Gillian, Boeing's vice-president of Air Dominance, confirmed the company is preparing for a strike, with no further talks scheduled. The labor dispute comes as Boeing works on a major US Air Force contract for next-generation F-47 fighter jets, awarded earlier this year. A prolonged strike could severely impact Boeing's defense operations, following last year's seven-week strike in Seattle that halted production at key facilities. IAM, one of North America's largest unions, represents workers across aerospace and defense sectors. - Reuters
