RIDLEY PARK, Pennsylvania
|
(Reuters) - Boeing Co
(BA.N) has won two multibillion dollar U.S. orders for
its Chinook helicopters and the V-22 Osprey it builds with Bell Helicopter,
sharply expanding the company's backlog at a time when overall U.S. defense
spending is starting to decline.
The U.S. Navy told
Reuters on Monday that it planned to sign a five-year contract valued at just
under $6.5 billion for 99 new V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft built by Boeing
and Bell, a unit of Textron Inc
(TXT.N).
On Tuesday, Boeing
and the U.S. Army announced a separate deal valued at $4 billion for 177 more
CH-47 Chinook helicopters, plus options for up to 38 more of the twin-rotor
workhorse helicopters. <ID:L2N0EN043>
The contracts,
which have a combined value of over $10 billion, will help shore up Boeing's
revenues while some other companies are seeing their orders scaled back or cut.
"I'm
extremely bullish on the rotorcraft industry," Leanne Caret, vice
president and general manager for vertical lift in Boeing's military aircraft
division, told Reuters in an interview at the company's sprawling plant outside
Philadelphia.
Caret said she
expected Boeing to double its rotorcraft revenues by 2030 but declined to give
specific dollar targets or the company's current revenues in the sector.
She said past
innovations in rotorcraft occurred after wars or other events such as the
Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-1980, and Boeing was committed to continuing to
invest in research and development initiatives even as defense spending
declined.
"The
multiyear agreements are critical because we're going to continue to advance
the technology that occurs on both the Chinook and the Osprey fleets,"
said Caret, who headed the Chinook program before moving into her current job
in January.
Caret said the
government was "fair, but tough" in its negotiations with Boeing, and
the company clearly had hard work ahead meeting its commitments on both
contracts, which carry fixed price terms, and offer significant savings
compared with buying the aircraft one year at a time.
She said the
Chinook multiyear agreement resulted in savings of 19 percent when compared
with the estimated cost of buying the same number of aircraft year by year.
Work on the multiyear agreement first began in 2009, she said.
Boeing was able
to achieve the savings through $130 million in investments to modernize the
Ridley Park plant, where Boeing builds both the V-22 Ospreys and the Chinook
helicopters, Caret said. She also cited concerted efforts to get the best
pricing for components from suppliers.
She said she and
top military officials met with suppliers to encourage them to "lean
forward" and give their very best pricing.
"We were
very clear that if we couldn't generate the savings that the U.S. government
required ... or better than those savings, that there may not be a multiyear
(deal)," she said.
Robotics and lean
production methods helped generate significant savings on the Chinook
production line, Caret said. It now takes just over 40 minutes to move an
aircraft down the line, instead of nearly a whole shift.
The government
also benefited from strong demand for Boeing helicopters and the V-22 Osprey,
Caret said. By including options for foreign orders in the contract, Boeing and
the government aimed to offset any declines in U.S. orders caused by mandatory
across-the-board budget cuts.
Boeing has also
reduced its management structure, cutting about 30 percent of its executives
last year, she said.
She said the
company was now turning to the automotive, gaming
and other non-defense industry for more ideas on how to make rotorcraft more
competitive and efficient.
(Editing by Mark
Potter)
Referensi : http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/11/us-boeing-rotorcraft-idUSBRE95A0J420130611
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