Boeing Nears U.K. Military Deal
March 25 2016 - 5:40PM
Dow Jones News
Boeing Co. moved a step closer to selling nine of its military
surveillance jets to the U.K. in a proposed $3.2 billion deal
announced by the U.S. government on Friday.
The U.K. wants to buy nine P-8A jets for maritime patrols and
submarine hunting, filling a gap created after the grounding of an
older jet fleet in 2010 and the cancellation of a program to
replace them with British-made aircraft.
The U.K. would become the third overseas customer alongside
India and Australia for the P-8A, a heavily modified version of
Boeing's best-selling 737 passenger jet. Boeing has estimated an
export market of more than 100 of the planes over the next decade.
The aircraft include a host of sensors and the ability to deploy
weapons such as torpedoes.
Boeing is increasingly reliant on military versions of its
commercial jets for defense sales as orders dry up for combat
planes such as the F-15. Export deals could help Boeing stretch
production of the P-8 when the U.S. Navy's planned 109-jet purchase
concludes in 2022.
The U.S. State Department has cleared the proposed deal, which
would be structured as a government-to-government sale, but it
didn't identify when the aircraft might be delivered. Other
suppliers involved include ViaSat Inc., Rockwell Collins Inc.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. and Raytheon Co.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 25, 2016 17:25 ET (21:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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