Tag: Aerospace

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Boeing and Embraer forge $4.75B jet venture

Boeing and Embraer jets
The Boeing-Embraer deal would add regional jets such as Embraer’s E190-E2 to a lineup that also includes Boeing’s 737 MAX 7 and larger jets. (Embraer Illustration)

After months of negotiations, Boeing and Brazilian jetmaker Embraer today announced a tentative agreement to form a $4.75 billion joint venture that would bring Embraer’s small-size commercial aircraft operations firmly into Boeing’s fold.

The arrangement is a strategic parry to last year’s move by Boeing’s European archrival, Airbus, to partner with Canada’s Bombardier on small-size jets.

Embraer’s engineering expertise could also come into play as Boeing gears up to design and produce a new breed of midsize jet variously known as the New Mid-Market Airplane, NMA or 797.

“This important partnership clearly aligns with Boeing’s long-term strategy of investing in organic growth and returning value to shareholders, complemented by strategic arrangements that enhance and accelerate our growth plans,” Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s chairman, president and CEO, said today in a news release.

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GoFly Prize unveils 10 designs for flying machines

TeTra flying machine
The teTra 3 air vehicle is one of the Phase 1 winners in the GoFly Prize competition. (Team teTra via GoFly)

Some of the designs look like winged motorcycles. There’s a cute mini-airplane with stubby wings. And a couple of the contraptions look more like time machines than flying machines.

The diversity among the winners in the first phase of the $2 million GoFly Prize competition for personal air vehicles doesn’t faze Gwen Lighter, the program’s founder and CEO. The way she sees it, that’s what’s wonderful about the contest.

“Just like there there are many different types of cars available to drive, so too the diversity that we are seeing in the many different types of personal flying solutions that have been submitted will allow the public to be able to choose the best method for whatever they are doing at that particular moment,” she told GeekWire. “In that sense, it’s very exciting to see all the different permutations.”

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Washington makes its pitch for Boeing’s next jet

Jay Inslee
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is surrounded by aerospace industry and labor representatives as he talks about a new report on the state’s competitiveness at South Seattle College. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

Boeing hasn’t yet declared whether it will build a new breed of midsize passenger jet — variously known as the New Mid-Market Airplane, NMA or 797 — but Washington state officials are already arguing they have the best place to build it.

And now they have a statistics-filled report to back up that claim.

The report, known as the Aerospace Competitive Economics Study or ACES, was researched and written up by aerospace consultants at the Teal Group and Olympic Analytics for labor unions at Boeing, on behalf of the Choose Washington New Mid-Market Airplane Council.

Those groups have an obvious interest in keeping Boeing airplane production in the Evergreen State, but today Washington Gov. Jay Inslee insisted the report is legit.

“If you dig down and look at this research, this is not a puff piece,” Inslee told journalists and VIPs who gathered at South Seattle College’s aviation maintenance technology hangar. “It is a scientifically rigorous evaluation that shows what we know: Washington is the place to build this airplane.”

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Boeing teams with Safran on auxiliary power units

Auxiliary power unit
The tail section of a FedEx 777 Freighter ecoDemonstrator flight-test airplane has been opened to reveal its auxiliary power unit, which contains a 3-D-printed titanium part. (Boeing Photo / Paul McElroy)

Boeing and Safran have set up a joint venture to design, build and service auxiliary power units for airplanes, marking another big step in Boeing’s drive to build a more integrated supply chain.

“This strategic partnership will leverage Boeing’s deep customer and airplane knowledge along with Safran’s experience in designing and producing complex propulsion assemblies to deliver expanded, innovative services solutions to our customers,” Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, said today in a news release.

News about the 50-50 joint venture comes a little more than a month after Boeing announced a $4.25 billion deal to acquire KLX Inc., a Florida-based aerospace parts distributor.

Both moves are in line with Boeing’s strategy to grow aviation services into a business that contributes $50 billion annually to the company’s bottom line. They also show that Boeing is willing to move away from traditional supply-chain models.

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Boeing HorizonX invests in Agylstor storage systems

Drone
Agylstor says its ruggedized computational storage systems are well-suited for aerospace applications, including autonomous drones. (DJI Photo)

The latest investment by Boeing’s HorizonX venture capital arm is going to Agylstor, a Silicon Valley startup that’s developing ruggedized computational storage systems with potential aerospace applications.

Boeing HorizonX Ventures led the Series A funding round, with other private investors also participating, Agylstor said today in a news release. The size of the investment wasn’t immediately disclosed, but HorizonX investments typically range from millions of dollars to the low tens of millions.

Agylstor was founded just two years ago and is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. The company said the newly announced funding round adds to the support it has received through private financing and support from its business partners, including Amazon Web Services.

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WTO ruling opens the way for tariffs (or talks)

Airbus A380 jumbo jet
European loan programs for developing Airbus’ A380 jumbo jet were among the issues addressed in a ruling from the World Trade Organization. (Airbus / e*m Photo / H. Gousse)

The World Trade Organization today issued its final report in a long-running dispute over subsidies for Airbus jets, potentially clearing the way for the U.S. to levy harsh tariffs on European imports.

It’s more likely, however, that U.S. and European officials will bear down on negotiations over complaints that also touch on the Boeing Co.’s tax breaks from Washington state.

Today’s WTO appellate panel ruling determined that Airbus received improper loan subsidies from European governments to launch its A350 and A380 jets. Similar claims, relating to the A320 and A330 lines, were dismissed.

In a statement, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the ruling “confirms once and for all that the EU has long ignored WTO rules.”

“Unless the EU finally takes action to stop breaking the rules and harming U.S. interests, the United States will have to move forward with countermeasures on EU products,” Lighthizer said.

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the ruling affirmed his company’s complaints. “Today’s final ruling sends a clear message: disregard for the rules and illegal subsidies is not tolerated,” he said in a statement.

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Boeing CEO is bullish on business in Earth orbit

Dennis Muilenburg
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg speaks at Northwestern University, with a model of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket standing in front of him. (Boeing via Facebook)

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg predicts that the number of space destinations will grow from one — the International Space Station — to 10 or 12 over the next couple of decades, creating an “economically viable marketplace” in Earth orbit.

And he sees Boeing being in the thick of it.

Tonight Muilenburg sketched out a vision of space commerce and exploration that extended from low Earth orbit to Mars and beyond. The occasion was the 34th Annual Patterson Transportation Lecture, delivered at the Northwestern University Transportation Center near Boeing’s headquarters in Chicago.

Muilenburg repeated his controversial pledge that NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System, which has Boeing as one of its lead contractors, will be the first rocket to send humans to Mars. (SpaceX and its fans might beg to differ on that point.)

But it was his vision for a commercial transportation system in low Earth orbit that showed how many of Boeing’s interests — ranging from airplane and satellite manufacturing to its work on the Phantom Express space plane and CST-100 Starliner space taxi — come together on the final frontier.

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Boeing confirms $4.25 billion acquisition of KLX

Boeing logo
Boeing  is the biggest U.S. manufacturer of commercial airplanes. (GeekWire Photo)

The Boeing Co. says it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire KLX Inc., a Florida-based aerospace parts distributor, as part of its drive to boost its global services business.

Today’s announcement comes just a few days after The Wall Street Journal reported that such a deal was in the works. The agreement involves an all-cash transaction for $63 a share as well as the assumption of about $1 billion of net debt, for a total of $4.25 billion, Boeing said.

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Boeing HorizonX invests in Morf3D for 3-D printing

Morf3D innovation center
Morf3D’s R&D Innovation Center is aimed at advancing the state of additive manufacturing. (Morf3D Photo)

The latest addition to Boeing’s venture-capital portfolio is Morf3D, a California startup that focuses on aerospace applications for 3-D printing.

Boeing HorizonX Ventures is a co-leader of the Series A investment round, announced by the companies today. Neither Boeing nor Morf3D detailed how much Boeing was investing, or the total amount raised. However, HorizonX’s investments typically range from seven figures to the low eight figures.

Morf3D is based in El Segundo, Calif., and has been producing 3-D-printed aluminum and titanium components for Boeing satellites and helicopters since the startup was founded in late 2015.

The company uses state-of-the-art software and engineering expertise to reduce mass and increase the performance and functionality of metal parts created through additive manufacturing.

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China hits back on tariffs, and Boeing weighs in

Air China 737
The first 737 MAX 8 jet delivered to Air China takes off from Boeing’s Seattle Delivery Center. (Boeing Photo / Craig Larsen)

China took less than 24 hours to respond to proposed U.S. tariffs with a 106-item list of its own that could affect $50 billion worth of U.S. imports, potentially including some of Boeing’s 737 airplanes.

The impact on Boeing isn’t yet clear, and the tit-for-tat trade sanctions on aerospace goods have not yet been implemented. Hours after China announced its move, Boeing issued a statement voicing hope that Washington and Beijing will be able to avoid a trade war.

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