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The United States on Wednesday began notifying lawmakers that it has approved $7 billion in long-stalled sales of Boeing Co (BA.N) fighter jets to Kuwait and Qatar, and more than $1 billion in Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) jets to Bahrain, sources familiar with the decision said. The sales had been pending for more than two years amid concerns raised by Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, that arms sold to Gulf Arab states could be used against it, and criticism of Qatar for alleged ties to armed Islamist groups. U.S. officials began notifying lawmakers informally about the sale of 36...

NEW DELHI—India is being offered blueprints to advanced combat aircraft by the world’s aerospace companies, a move unthinkable even a decade ago, as New Delhi gets ready to place another multibillion-dollar air force order. India’s aging military jet fleet desperately needs an upgrade, which analysts say may spur it to place an order worth more than $10 billion in the next year. Hoping for an edge, and encouraged by a recent law that allows 100% foreign ownership of local defense firms, jet-fighter makers such as Lockheed Martin Corp. , Boeing Co. and Saab AB are rushing in with offers to...

A World Trade Organization (WTO) compliance panel ruled Thursday that the European Union has fallen dramatically short of remedying the harm to Boeing from illegal subsidies to Airbus. The decision opens a path for the U.S. to implement trade sanctions against the EU — potentially imposing billions of dollars in tariffs on its goods or services.

When more important matters die down, I will have more to say about Senator Bob Corker’s rant on Fox News last week, accusing me of making “purposeful misstatements” about his legislation that enabled President Obama to get his Iran Deal through Congress. The Senator was provoked when Fox’s Bret Baier read from a column I wrote last year.

<p>Air Force Unveils Name of Future Stealth Bomber as B-21 'Raider'.</p> <p>AFA 2016 B-21 Naming Ceremony Raider was selected as the name of the Long Range Strike-Bomber, or LRS-B, by leaders after the service launched a survey of service members.</p>

Boeing formally challenged a decision by the Danish government to pick Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet over its own Super Hornet, saying on Thursday the choice was based on a "flawed evaluation process". Boeing said it had submitted a request to the country's ministry of defence that would require it to provide all materials related to the procurement evaluation and decision announced in June. "We believe the ministry's evaluation of the competitors was fundamentally flawed and inaccurately assessed the cost and capability of the F/A-18 Super Hornet," said Boeing vice president Debbie Rub. In May Boeing challenged the Danish government's...

Boeing unveiled the first prototype of its trainer aircraft for U.S. Air Force T-X advanced pilot trainer program co-developed with the Saab. The aircraft was rolled out from Boeing's facility in St.Louis, Missouri were the F/A-18 and F-15 fighters are assembled. The clean sheet design will be offered to replace the 55 year old Northrop Grumman T-38 fleet operated by USAF for pilot training. The aircraft features anhedral wings and tail fin with side mounted engine air intakes. What makes the Boeing's T-X design unique from the other three competitors is the twin canted tail plane. Other competitors in...

The United States is poised to sell $7 billion worth of Boeing Co fighter jets to Qatar and Kuwait after years of delays, and it may start notifying U.S. lawmakers as early as next week, four U.S.- and Gulf-based sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The sales had stalled amid concerns raised by Israel, Washington's closest Middle East ally, that equipment sent to equipment sent to Gulf Arab states would be used against it. U.S. officials have criticized Qatar for alleged ties to armed Islamist groups. Boeing said it was encouraged by continued progress and hoped to see movement...

Donald Trump's visit to Mexico was a cautious one. According Mark Simone of KOR Radio, Trump's plane was unmarked when he landed in Mexico to visit President Pena. Apparently, Trump left his the Trump Force One, a custom-appointed Boeing 757-200, behind.

Joe Sutter, who was dubbed “Father of the 747” by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, has died at age 95. As the former chief engineer of Boeing’s 747, Sutter is credited with leading the birth of the first widebody airliner, which ushered in the globe-shrinking age of mass air travel.

The new Boeing KC-46A Refueler.  This is a great Ad Boeing did.  Think Freepers may enjoy this 2 minute video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThbmESQTZrU        

After photos leaked of Northrop Grumman and BAE System’s new T-X trainer offering, Boeing and Saab revealed their own T-X sneak peak this week. A few shadowy glimpses of the trainer appeared over four videos posted on Boeing’s new T-X website over the weekend. The clean sheet design has two engine inlets, a high mounted wing and a conventional, vertical tail. That design marks a departure from Boeing’s original V-tail concept the company put forth before partnering with Saab. The new aircraft’s design is also unique from the Boeing T-45 Goshawk used by the US Navy. Boeing’s T-X bid not...

I was just talking to my neighbor who has a son that works in Everett. He says the last 747 is expected to come off the line in late September, this year! In my mind, this is just about the last thing I would recommend. Take a hiatus if you need one. But don't spend all your gumption on the 787. Stick to planes that WORK! Like the 737... Thoughts?

Attached to the station’s no-longer-needed shuttle port at the front of the station, the Boeing-built International Docking Adapter will allow spacecraft from both companies to bring crews to the outpost, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz ferry ships. A second IDA is expected to be attached in 2018. “It is amazing that now we’ve opened up a new chapter in the story of the International Space Station, putting the front door on this for future commercial vehicles,” radioed station commander Jeff Williams, who worked with astronaut Kate Rubins to attach and outfit the IDA. “Congratulations to the entire team.”...

A passenger plane has declared a mid-air emergency and seemingly disappeared from radar, according to reports. The Air Algerie Boeing 737-600 took off from Algiers this afternoon on a flight to Marseille but let out an emergency call shortly after take-off. Flight radar showed the plane turn around and head back towards the point where it took-off but before arriving, the jet disappeared from radar.

DUBAI -- An Emirates flight from India with 300 people on board, including 6 Americans, crash landed at Dubai's main airport on Wednesday, sending black smoke billowing into the air and halting all traffic at the Middle East's busiest airport. Authorities said all passengers were evacuated safely. Dubai-based Emirates said the accident happened around 12:45 p.m. local time as Flight EK521 was arriving from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram.

A United States 'spy plane' has made an emergency landing in eastern Russia, it has emerged today. The surveillance Boeing OC-135B aircraft was flying a mission over Siberia as allowed under the Treaty on Open Skies when it reported a problem with its landing gear. The unarmed plane made an emergency landing at Khabarovsk airport, but a military source in Russia has questioned whether the technical glitch was genuine.

The home flight simulator belonging to the MH370 pilot had a route plotted into it which ended in the Indian Ocean, officials have confirmed.... ...The confirmation corroborates earlier reports that the device had programmed in it a route similar to the one which investigators believe the doomed flight took on its final voyage.

NEW DELHI: Adding more teeth to the Navy’s surveillance capabilities, India on Wednesday signed a deal worth over $1 billion with American defence and aerospace major Boeing for procuring four additional Poseidon-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The US has emerged as the biggest supplier of military hardware to India and with Wednesday's agreement, the total value of defence deals signed with the US in the last decade comes to around $15 billion. According to defence sources, the contract is a follow-on order to the eight P-81 planes worth $2.1 billion bought by India in a direct deal...

China has completed production of the world's largest amphibious aircraft, state media has said, the latest effort in the country's program to wean itself off dependence on foreign aviation firms. The state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) unveiled the first of the new planes, dubbed the AG600, Saturday in the southern port city of Zhuhai, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The aircraft, which has a maximum range of 4,500 km (2,800 miles), is intended for fighting forest fires and performing marine rescues, it said. At around the size of a Boeing 737, it is far larger than any...

With the blessing of the Obama administration, Boeing Co. has negotiated the sale of a fleet of new jets to the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism. The $17.6 billion deal between the aviation giant and the Islamic Republic of Iran was made possible by the lifting of economic sanctions against Tehran in January. It is a reckless piece of business that Congress must address. Under terms of the memorandum of agreement, Boeing reportedly will supply 80 planes—including intercontinental jumbo jets—to state-owned Iran Air. The carrier, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury, has been routinely commandeered by the Islamic...

Boeing Co.’s historic $25 billion deal with Iran Air potentially rides on hopes that Tehran would stop its past practice of using the airline’s planes to ferry fighters and weapons across the Middle East. Exactly five years ago, the Obama administration imposed sanctions on the Iranian company for a number of infractions. Iran Air used passenger and cargo planes to transport rockets and missiles to places such as Syria, sometimes disguised as medicine or spare parts, the Treasury Department said at the time. In other instances, members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps took control of flights carrying sensitive cargo.

A veteran U.S. diplomat who pushed for the nuclear deal with Iran, which allowed Boeing to sell $25 billion worth of planes to state-owned Iran Air, did not disclose that he was paid by Boeing during the time he advocated for the agreement, The Daily Beast reported Wednesday. Thomas Pickering, a former ambassador to Russia, India, Israel, and the United Nations who served under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, confirmed to The Daily Beast that he was an employee of the Boeing Corporation from 2001 to 2006, after which he continued his association with the company as a...

A former top Clinton administration diplomat who used his political sway to garner support for the Iran nuclear deal apparently was being bankrolled the entire time by Boeing -- which is set to make billions off a jet deal with Tehran now that sanctions have been lifted. ADVERTISEMENT Thomas Pickering, who also served as co-chairman of the board examining the Benghazi attack response, publicly pushed for the nuclear deal before its approval last year. He did so by penning op-eds, writing to high-level officials and even testifying before Congress. With the deal in place, Boeing has since moved forward on...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05) released the following statement in response to reports that Boeing has reached a multibillion-dollar deal to sell commercial passenger planes to Iran. Boeing is one of the largest beneficiaries of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) bank which perpetuates corporate welfare to mega corporations by handing out taxpayer-backed loans. "This agreement between Boeing and the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism is extremely troubling and shows that crony capitalism remains alive and well in Washington. Not only has Boeing lobbied for years to keep the taxpayer-backed Export Import bank alive, it now has also used its...

The U.S. could see the cost of new Boeing Co (BA.N) F/A-18E/F Super Hornets rise unless the government approves foreign sales of the jets soon, U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said on Sunday. Mabus, in Germany for a NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea, told Reuters he was frustrated by delays in approving the sale of the Boeing jets to a close U.S. ally, warning that this could affect the cost of jets the U.S. Navy still wants to buy. U.S. Navy and other defense officials have said they support the sale of 28 Boeing F/A-18E/F jets to Kuwait for...

Iran and its airlines are nearing a tentative agreement to buy about 100 Boeing Co. jets following the easing of trade sanctions, according to people briefed on the discussions. The Islamic Republic is expected to buy jets directly from the U.S. plane maker in what would be one of the highest-profile deals between a U.S. company and Tehran since the West lifted nuclear sanctions on the country in January. It could also lease Boeing-made aircraft as part of a broader fleet renewal effort that includes acquiring Airbus Group SE planes, according to one of the people briefed on the discussions....

Delays in prepping the CST-100 crew capsule could cost Boeing millions -- or more. "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." -- attributed to Mark Twain And over at Boeing (NYSE:BA), "history" looks like it's about to rhyme with "misery" for the one-time space monopolist. As you may recall, Boeing (in the form of United Launch Alliance, its joint venture with Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)) was forced to bow out of an Air Force competition to launch a GPS III satellite into orbit last year. ULA's withdrawal was partly Congress' fault, inasmuch as Congress had briefly enacted a law forbidding...

WASHINGTON: When Boeing really, truly and finally won the airborne tanker competition by underbidding what was then EADS North America (now Airbus) by at least 10 percent, the chairman of the losing company, Ralph Crosby, said he believed it important that Boeing be watched closely to make sure they delivered at that price and on schedule. “If they aren’t, then they should be held accountable,” he said at the press conference announcing EADS would not protest the win. Well, Boeing’s KC-46 is quite late and very over-budget. It was supposed to be ready for a spring 2017 arrival at Altus...

The outcome of dueling versions of the National Defense Authorization Act could determine how much the U.S. lines Russia's pockets before what some lawmakers hope is a speedy transition to a domestically produced rocket engine. The RD-180 engine is built by NPO Energomash, a manufacturer mostly owned by the Russian Federation. It's used in the Atlas V rocket, built by Lockheed Martin and Boeing's United Launch Alliance. The House version of the NDAA approves all of the 18 requested engines. In the Senate, where there has been a lengthy battle over buying from Russia, the NDAA authorizes nine engines. Either...

The Ministry of Defence is poised to hand another major deal to a US company, with a £2bn contract for new Apache helicopters set to be awarded to Boeing. Leonardo, the Italian aerospace manufacturer until recently known as Finmeccanica, had been battling to land the deal, which would have seen the refitted helicopters produced at its base in Yeovil, Somerset, where 3,700 staff are employed. Such an agreement would have provided a significant long-term boost to UK jobs and skills. However, it is understood the MoD has decided to hand the 50-aircraft contract, worth £2bn over its lifetime when servicing...

Virgin's first-ever Boeing 747, called Lady Penelope, was retired last year Lady Penelope had its first commercial flight in 1994 and served the Crawley-based airline, which was co-founded by Sir Richard Branson, for 21 years until its final flight from New York to London last September. ‘Based on the buyer's needs. We have all of the capabilities to disassemble and transport the plane in sections. ‘It is also possible to section out the plane out if you only require the fuselage, cockpit or the wings.’

Lawmakers want company to stay away from terror regimeMembers of Congress have summoned the heads of airplane giant Boeing to a meeting to encourage the company to stop spearheading efforts to reenter the Iranian marketplace, a business pursuit that is jointly backed by the Obama administration, according to a letter sent Friday to Boeing leadership and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.Boeing, like its French rival AirBus, has been working to woo the Iranian government following last summer’s comprehensive nuclear agreement.Officials at Boeing—a top U.S. government contractor—opened discussions with Iran last month. The company is hoping to sell its aircraft...

The US Navy will wrap up developmental free flight testing of the datalink-equipped Boeing Harpoon Block II+ sea-skimming, anti-ship missile next week, ahead of fielding on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet sometime between June and August of 2017. The latest variant of the 45-year-old Harpoon weapon type expands on the satellite-aided navigation system introduced in Block II by adding a datalink radio ported across from the C-1 variant of Raytheon's AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) for in-flight retargeting against enemy surface vessels in cluttered coastal regions. The Harpoon missile successfully struck its first ship target during a test in December 1971,...

Boeing's 1933 247D Airliner is retiring to the Museum of Flight The 1933 Boeing 247D Airliner arrived at the Museum of Flight after its final flight, Tuesday, April 26, 2016. The plane is the oldest flyable Boeing, all-metal airliner. The plane will be on display in front of the museum throughout the summer, before it is placed in the new Aviation Pavilion.

<p>The Federal Aviation Administration is ordering fixes on General Electric engines used on some Boeing 787 Dreamliners after it found that an icing problem can cause the engines to shut down mid-flight.</p>

WASHINGTON • The U.S. government is poised to approve two long-delayed sales of Boeing Co. fighter jets to Qatar and Kuwait, and could announce the multibillion-dollar deals during President Barack Obama's visit to the Gulf this week, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The decision would mean more job security for thousands of workers at Boeing's sprawling plant in north St. Louis County, where the F-15 fighter and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets are made. Both deals have been stalled amid concerns raised by Israel that equipment sent to Gulf states could fall into the wrong hands and be used...

A problem that has prevented Boeing Co 's KC-46A tanker aircraft from transferring fuel to a C-17 transport plane may delay a Pentagon decision approving low-rate production of the new tanker in May, the U.S. Air Force said on Thursday. "We don't yet know the schedule impact to the planned May Milestone C decision, but the problem is well understood and we don't expect an extended delay," said Air Force spokesman Daryl Mayer. Mayer said the issue arose during testing of the refueling boom that is used to transfer fuel from the 767-based tanker aircraft to a C-17 transport plane,...

The slide landed at Self’s front door. “Someone else had called 911 and said that they had seen an object falling from an airplane,” Self told KPHO. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to KPHO that an Atlas Air Boeing 767 was on final approach to Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix when the emergency escape slide deployed on the plane’s right wing. The plane was 2,800 feet up when the slide deployed and the crew – who were the only ones onboard – landed safely. “Did they hear something? Did the captain know something was going on?” Self wondered to KPHO....

The Boeing Co. is reportedly taking steps to eliminate 10 percent of its workforce in Washington state. The Seattle Times reports the aerospace giant has already taken steps to eliminate 4,000 jobs by June and is aiming for about a 10 percent overall cut — which would mean about 8,000 positions in Washington. …

The U.S. government has approved sale of up to nine P-8 maritime patrol and strike aircraft to the United Kingdom, a new export sale for the popular Boeing (NYSE: BA) military jet. The British deal will be worth up to $3.2 billion, according to Reuters. Boeing also exports the so-called "sub killers" to Australia and India. There's a market for the jets in countries with large coastlines. The approval, while not unexpected, is a boost to the Puget Sound region. Boeing assembles the 737-based aircraft at its Renton site on a production line separate from the commercial 737s. Boeing then...

India is keen to consider Boeing's offer to supply F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets to the Indian Air Force (IAF). Sources said that New Delhi will take a hard look at the proposal in April when a high-level delegation will engage the Indian officials on the construct of the offer. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will be in India on April 10 in a visit that is expected to take lift cooperation to a new level. Boeing has offered F/A-18 Super Hornets under the "Make in India" framework of the Indian government. Sources said the proposal is worth considering as...

United Airlines has confirmed plans to reconfigure several of its Boeing 777 airliners to accommodate 10 seats across each row instead of nine in its economy class on domestic routes. United will retrofit 19 of its 74 Boeing 777 widebodies with the additional seating, applying the change to nine of the aircraft already used for domestic routes, mostly to and from Hawaii. The 10 other Boeing 777s that will feature the 10-across seat configuration will be shifted from the airline's long-haul international flights, according to Today in the Sky.

All 62 people aboard a passenger jet flying from Dubai to southern Russia were killed when their plane crashed on its second attempt to land at Rostov-on-Don airport this morning, Russian officials said. Russia's emergencies ministry said the aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 operated by Dubai-based budget carrier Flydubai, crashed. Most of those aboard were Russian. "The aircraft hit the ground and broke into pieces," the Investigative Committee of Russia said in a statement on its website. "According to preliminary data, there were 55 passengers aboard and seven crew members. They all died." The plane's wing hit the ground on its...

A passenger jet has crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don with at least 55 people on board, officials say. The FlyDubai Boeing 738, coming from Dubai, overshot the runway as it attempted to land and burst into flames, according to reports.

The fate of the F-15 assembly line in St. Louis, and thousands of jobs tied to it, may hinge on the White House’s attitude toward a tiny oil-rich monarchy that sometimes riles its Arab neighbors in the Persian Gulf. The Emirate of Qatar wants to buy at least 36 of the air-superiority jets, and possibly 72, but the purchase has been held up for two years as the administration of President Barack Obama ponders whether to allow it. The issue is entangled in the shifting geopolitics and strained alliances of the Middle East, along with Israel’s concern that the sale...

Echo Voyager, Boeing’s latest unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV), can operate autonomously for months at a time thanks to a hybrid rechargeable power system and modular payload bay. The 51-foot-long vehicle is the latest innovation in Boeing’s UUV family, joining the 32-foot Echo Seeker and the 18-foot Echo Ranger. The size of the new Echo Voyager is in the middle of the German U-Boat lengths which were 40-60 feet long depending upon design. U-boats dominated the seas for several years due to the fact that thousands were produced. A militarized Echo Voyager could have a similar role if they were mass...

Photo credit: US Army via Military Times The Pentagon is realizing that fighting in the frigid north may be more of a possibility than ever as Russia prepares its forces for sustained arctic operations. Now a handful of the US Army’s attack helicopters are getting optimized for this scenario, receiving skis, a pilot survival pod and being tested to see how they adapt to the extreme environment. The Apache’s permanent presence in Alaska is still a relatively new development. It came about as the result of the Army’s aviation reorganization plan that saw the sudden (and some would say boneheaded)...

It is one of the oddest plane designs ever created - a tiny propeller-driven craft with twin tails and two pilots sitting almost on top of each other. However, Boeing and a South Africa's Paramount Group firm hope the wacky design, currently used to patrol borders, could be turned into a low cost fighter plane. The two firms plan to add missiles and a slew of sensors to the advanced, high-performance, reconnaissance, light aircraft, which has been named Mwari after an all-seeing mythological being in Southern African folklore. The advanced, high-performance, reconnaissance, light aircraft (AHRLAC) is a high-wing aircraft, with...

Paramount Group AHRLAC Plane This weird plane will soon get weapons. Probably normal weapons, maybe weird weapons too. South Africa’s AHRLAC is a weird bird. With a narrow, high body, and stadium seating for the pilot and sensor operator, it looks like a rough draft for an F-4 phantom. A pusher prop and slightly forward-swept wings seem like an aviation mistake from the First World War. Built as a bushwacking scout, able to operate from rough fields without runways, AHRLAC is an odd drone alternative, a peopled plane built to do a drone’s job. Now, thanks to a deal Paramount...