Boeing’s defence business increasingly shifts focus away from military aircraft

to electronics and hardware. The Seattle Times goes back over Boeing’s records as a military aircraft supplier during World War II and Cold War. Today, the company cannot boast one single US government contract to build the armed forces’ next-generation fighters, bombers, tankers and transport aircraft, comments the daily. Boeing’s Integrated Defence Systems relies on the US government for the greatest share of its business and the Pentagon’s recent decision to award a multibillion tanker contract to an EADS-led team is seen as a blow at the defence division. IDS only delivered 84 planes last year, including 16 C-17 transport aircraft and 44 fighter jets. The C-17 factory in Long Beach, California, is under threat of closure, as a matter of fact. This could happen as early as 2010. The Seattle Times (07/04)