Boeing expects the Air Force to move ahead with an alternative program to develop a Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals that would run in parallel to the company’s FAB-T development, said Roger Krone, the company’s president of networking and space programs, Tuesday. “We clearly understand … that our performance has not been outstanding,” Krone told reporters in Arlington, Va. Earlier this year, the Air Force disclosed its intent to terminate Boeing’s FAB-T contract because the company has yet to produce a working terminal. However, Boeing submitted an enticing firm-fixed priced proposal to keep its work going; service officials have been evaluating it. Krone said Boeing has yet to receive word in writing that its FAB-T work will continue, but negotiations are under way. “We are in this position because we don’t have a terminal done that we can offer to the customer and this will put a competitor in the mix,” acknowledged Krone. He added, “We have about a year-and-a-half to perform and anywhere through this process, the Air Force has options to continue both the programs, to stop one, to go with the other. . . . They have done a very good job of creating leverage.”
Since President Donald Trump first unveiled his “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative in late January, much of the focus for it has been focused on space—how the Pentagon may deploy dozens, if not hundreds, of sensors and interceptors into orbit to protect the continental U.S. from missile barrages. But the Air…