Boeing defense chief Steve Parker also disputed that cost disputes drove a decision by the US Air Force to cancel the E-7 Wedgetail program, which has now led to NATO reversing plans to buy the aircraft as well.
“We want to get our BDS [Boeing Defense, Space and Security] business back to high single digit margins and see nothing that's going to keep us from doing that,” Boeing CEO Ortberg said.
AI, autonomous systems, cyber, and EW converge as industry targets faster battlefield effects.
Parker's appointment as Boeing's chief defense executive fills a vacancy that has been open since September 2024.
“Over the last four or five months, we've made more progress than we've made in the last four years. … We have been able to see our way through some of these requirements that were just physically impossible to do,” said Steve Parker, the interim CEO of Boeing’s defense business.
"We'll definitely look at air-ground in the future, but our focus priority is air-to-air," Steve Parker, Boeing's interim defense chief, told reporters during the Avalon Air Show.
The changes, including halving business divisions, come as Boeing’s defense sector finds itself at a crossroads, with new leadership contending with systemic financial issues tied to its large number of fixed-price contracts with the US government.
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
Boeing's Steve Parker said he expects a contract for F-15EX lot 2 and 3 "will be at the advertised price" when it is finalized in a couple months. The price claim comes after lawmakers bemoaned lack of oversight on unit costs for the fighter.