Boeing officials say the company has picked up work on a new Air Force space effort and additional work under its long-standing contract to build Global Positioning System satellites. The new work involves defining the next-generation communications payload for a polar-orbiting satellite under a $1.5 million Air Force contract. For the GPS program, Boeing will build three more Block IIF satellites under a $138 million option.
The emphasis on speed in the Pentagon’s newly unveiled slate of acquisition reforms may come with increased near-term cost increases, analysts say. But according to U.S. defense officials, the new weapons-buying construct provides the military with enough flexibility to prevent runaway budget overruns in major programs.
