The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the Trump administration has shocked industry observers by choosing Boeing as the contractor to manufacture the next-generation F-47 fighter for the US military, instead of Lockheed Martin.
On March 21, despite Boeing not producing any new military or commercial aircraft for more than a decade, the Pentagon decided to award Boeing the most ambitious and expensive fighter contract ever.
This has also disappointed lockheed Martin's officials.
The contract worth more than 50 billion USD is very meaningful for Boeing at this time, creating an opportunity to turn the situation around as the company continuously faces financial difficulties, safety scandals related to the 737 Max aircraft and a series of delays in other projects.
The Pentagon's decision is seen as a "lifeline" for Boeing as the company benefits from a profit-added deal. Accordingly, the government will bear all development and profit-taking costs - a significant difference compared to recent fixed-priced contracts that have caused Boeing's defense to lose billions of dollars.
The F-47 fighter is designed to work with semi-autonomous drones, possessing advanced stealth technology and long-range combat capability, playing an important role in competing for military power with superpowers.
However, many experts have expressed skepticism about Boeing's limited experience in stealth technology as well as the challenges the company is facing in other defense projects.
The banks Ron Epstein analyst stressed that Boeing needs to hire more highly skilled engineers to successfully implement the F-47 project in the context of the company not being the fighter jets manufacturing hub as before.
Boeing's current fighter jets were all developed before the company merged with McDonal Douglas in 1997. The company's most recent military aircraft model - the T-7 training aircraft - was also co-developed with Saab, instead of being produced independently.
Boeing has overtaken two corporations with extensive stealth fighter manufacturing experience, lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, to win the contract. However, the airline was slow on the F-47 project when it informed the US Air Force that the handover would take place after Mr. Trump ended his second term. This prompted President Trump to urge Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg to speed up the progress.
Boeing has since decided to invest more than $2 billion to expand its St. Petersburg facilities. Louis, Missouri, to prepare for the project. Boeing defense act director Steve Parker called it the largest investment in the company's defense history.
According to WSJ, Donald Trump - the 47th US President - personally announced this project, as if he wanted to contact the aircraft's number 47 for his term. Mr. Trump said that nothing can compare to the speed, mobility and payload of the F-47, and affirmed that this is the most advanced, most powerful and deadliest fighter model ever built.
