An almost two-month-long strike by aerospace workers contributed to Boeing’s defence unit delivering a reduced total of 110 aircraft last year: down from 157 in 2023.
Combat aircraft shipments by Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) totalled 14 F-15s and 11 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for the full-year, including four and six respectively during the fourth quarter. By contrast, the unit had in 2023 handed over nine F-15s and 22 Super Hornets.
“Our fighter programmes again recognised losses in 4Q due to disruptions associated with the F-15EX ramp-up and the F-18 production winddown,” Boeing chief financial officer Brian West said during an earnings call on 28 January.
The impact of strike action by the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM) was more evident on BDS’s output of commercial-derivative products, however. A total of 10 767-based KC-46A tankers were delivered in 2024 – three fewer than the previous year – with none handed over during the last three-month period.
Similarly, the temporary halt to production of the 737 narrowbody contributed to BDS shipping only four P-8A maritime patrol aircraft last year: down from 11 in 2023.
Those jets are built in factories in the Pacific Northwest that were shut down by the 53-day strike.
The IAM ended its industrial action last November, after accepting new employment terms for its members.
Boeing had on 23 January outlined advance charges of $1.7 billion incurred against its defence programmes in the October-December 2024 trading period. That sum included $800 million for the KC-46A and $500 million for the T-7A advanced jet trainer, with the remainder related to the MQ-25 unmanned refuelling aircraft on order for the US Navy (USN), 747-8I-derived VC-25B presidential transport, and its commercial crew space programme.
“The fixed-price development cost pressures were driven by the… KC-46, primarily reflecting higher estimated manufacturing costs, including the impacts of the IAM work stoppage and agreement, and T-7A driven by higher estimated production costs on contracts in 2026 and beyond,” West says.
BDS delivered what had been expected to be the final two engineering and manufacturing development-phase examples of the T-7A to the US Air Force (USAF) in 2024, including one in the last quarter, following three handed over in 2023. However, a recent agreement between Boeing and the air force will see the service purchase additional test jets before starting rate production.
“In January, the US Air Force announced an updated acquisition approach for the T-7A Red Hawk that allows the company to provide a production-ready configuration to the customer prior to low-rate initial production, which better supports the operational needs of the customer and reduces future production risk,” Boeing says.
Under that agreement, the USAF ordered a further four production-representative test vehicles (PRTVs), and moved its schedule for approving a ‘Milestone C’ production decision from 2025 until 2026.
“The updated acquisition approach for the T-7A is a proof point for how we are working with our customers to find better overall outcomes for both parties,” says West, who adds that the PRTV assets will “reduce concurrency risk” on the programme.
Boeing in 2018 secured a contract worth $9.2 billion to deliver at least 350 T-7As to the USAF. However, the fixed-price nature of the development and production award has led to the company incurring significant financial charges over the last several years.
Also speaking during the earnings call, Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg referred to the memorandum of agreement (MOA) reached on the USAF trainer programme as being a positive development for both parties.
“We’re also in active discussions with our customer on the VC-25B programme to make the necessary changes to improve the programme performance and delivery,” he says. “The US Air Force has termed this as an ‘active management’, which is a term I really like. We’re focused on actively managing all of our problematic programmes to improve the performance for the company and our customers.”
He adds: “While there’s no silver bullet on these fixed-price programmes, I do feel better about our ability to better manage the performance in 2025.”
Ortberg says the airframer also is in “active discussion” with the USAF for a MOA 2 agreement on the T-7A, around “making some changes to equipment purchased by us versus purchased by the air force directly”. This will “help them with their logistics support plans, but also de-risk our escalation risk associated with those commodity sets”, he says.
Meanwhile, the annual delivery total for BDS’s rotorcraft products was also down from 2023, with respective figures of 69 and 99.
Last year’s shipments included 50 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters (16 new and 34 remanufactured): a reduction from 77 (20 and 57, respectively) during the previous 12 months.
It also delivered 13 CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters (four new and nine remanufactured), versus 20 (11 and nine, respectively) the year before.
BDS also transferred six MH-139 Grey Wolf utility rotorcraft – a USAF variant derived from the Leonardo Helicopters AW139 – including its first low-rate initial production examples. Two of the type had been handed over during 2023.
With an eye to future business, BDS secured fourth-quarter aircraft orders worth $8 billion, including a USAF contract for 15 KC-46As and a USN deal for seven P-8s. Its year-end order backlog stood at $64 billion, with more than $18.5 billion, or 29%, from international customers.
