Boeing plans to launch two new divisions within its Defense, Space & Security business starting next week – a Commercial Derivative Aircraft division, and a Missile and Weapon Systems division – as part of an ongoing reorganization effort by the business unit’s chief executive, Leanne Caret.
The company also plans to eliminate its Development division, which had managed programmes for the KC-46 aerial refueling tanker, Air Force One, Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, and the CST-100 Starliner Commercial Crew spacecraft capsule for NASA. Those programmes will be repositioned within the new divisions and the company’s Space division, which is being renamed the Space and Launch division.
The Commercial Derivative Aircraft division will be based in Seattle. It will include the P-8 Poseidon, KC-46 aerial tanker and Air Force One programme. Tim Peters, currently head of Boeing’s flight test activities and a former KC-46 programme manager, will lead the division.
The Missile and Weapon Systems division will be based in Huntsville, Alabama. It will include Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent and Ground-Based Midcourse Defense programmes, as well as Joint Direct Attack Munition and other weapons that are produced by the company outside St. Louis, Missouri. Norm Tew, currently head of engineering for what today is called the Space and Missile Systems division, will lead the division. Tew was previously the company’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense programme manager.
As of 2 April, Boeing Defense, Space & Security business divisions will include: Commercial Derivative Aircraft; Missile and Weapon Systems; Space and Launch; Autonomous Systems; Vertical Lift, Strike, Surveillance and Mobility; and Phantom Works. It will also maintain a Global Operations division based in London to manage operations in the UK, India, the Middle East, and Australia.
Since being named Boeing Defense, Space & Security president and chief executive in February 2016, Caret has worked to reorganise and streamline the business unit. In December 2016, the unit moved its headquarters from St. Louis to Northern Virginia to be closer to customers within the Pentagon. Last July, the unit eliminated 50 executive positions.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
