Boeing to shift some defense work out of Washington state

Boeing on Monday said it would move most of its defense services and support work out of Washington state to other U.S. cities, affecting the jobs of about 2,000 of its 5,200 defense employees in the Puget Sound region.

The changes are part of ongoing efforts by Boeing to streamline its defense business, and will not affect its P-8A spy plane or KC-46 aerial refueling tanker programs. Both of those programs are based on commercial jetliners made in the area.

The transition could take three years to complete. Boeing would shift as many affected workers as possible to the company's growing commercial jetliner operations.

Chris Chadwick, chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, said "This is necessary if we are going to differentiate ourselves from competitors and stay ahead of a rapidly changing global defense environment."

Union officials said the company has scheduled meetings with defense workers at key sites in the Puget Sound region on Tuesday and that managers and workers expect the company to announce work will be transferred to other parts of the country.

Most of the work would relocate to Oklahoma City and St. Louis, where similar activities are done today, with a smaller share of the work to go to Jacksonville, Florida, and Patuxent River, Maryland.

In all, Oklahoma City could add about 900 jobs, while St. Louis could add 500 jobs, the company said.

...will not affect its P-8A spy plane...

P-8 Spy Plane?

Huh?

"The P-8A Poseidon is a long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft."

OK, I guess any Seaman Basic standing watch on the bridge while carrying a pair of binoculars is now a "spy".

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The co-authors (a pair of right-wing hawks? Probably not)

Andrea Shalal-Esa's Summary

"I've been with Reuters for over 25 years, starting in Germany in 1988, where I helped cover the fall of the Berlin Wall and German unification. I've also covered equities, environmental issues and was the night duty correspondent in Washington for over 6 years. Since 2001, I've covered aerospace and defense, including the Boeing tanker saga, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, endless budget battles, sequestration and numerous program cancellations. Since 2012, I've also covered the earnings of big weapons makers such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.

In addition, I sometimes lecture and write on Arab-American literature, and teach occasional college courses on diversity, race, and media ethics. I also served on a community wide diversity advisory board for the Carroll County Public Schools. "

"Alwyn Scott is an American journalist. In 2010, he was named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize [1] for editing a series of articles investigating the shutdown and sale of Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. bank to fail, and the foreclosure crisis. He has won numerous awards for writing and editing.

Scott is managing editor of the Puget Sound Business Journal, a weekly newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. He was the business projects reporter for The Seattle Times,[2][3] a news editor at The Wall Street Journal in Brussels, a news editor and bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswires in London and Bangkok, and has written for numerous publications.[4]

His work has focused on the economic and social effects of globalization and trade."

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