Boeing Fires the Head of Its Defense, Space and Security Unit After

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The Starliner project cost Boeing over $1.6 billion in overruns, and was also a source of embarrassment for its many troubles.

It’s been a tough year for Boeing, to say the least.

Besides all the issues with their airplanes, including the grounding of all the 737-MAX aircraft, there was also the issue with the Starliner spacecraft, which was arguably the most high-profile debacle.

The fact that the two astronaut crew of the maiden Starliner voyage are still on the Space station awaiting a lift on a rival SpaceX craft to come back home is a black-eye that can’t be disguised.

SpaceX owner Elon Musk, commenting on the troubles of Boeing, said that at least it now has a CEO who goes to the factory to check things with his own eyes.

And so changes are in motion at the aerospace giant.

Boeing has announced this week that the head of the company’s troubled defense, space and security unit is leaving the planemaker, effective immediately.

New York Post reported:

“New Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg in his first significant move since taking over in August, said Ted Colbert would be leaving and Steve Parker, the unit’s chief operating officer, would assume Colbert’s responsibilities until a replacement is named at a later date.

Boeing’s space business has suffered setbacks, notably NASA’s recent decision to send Boeing’s Starliner capsule home without astronauts that followed years of missteps.”

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will have to come back to Earth on a SpaceX capsule.

The Starliner project has cost Boeing no less than $1.6 billion in overruns since 2016.

“’Historically, Boeing held a superior reputation for our ability to manage programs, and we need to ensure it remains a key differentiator for us in the future’, Ortberg wrote in an email to employees.

He added he had learned ‘more about the future investments we need to make to be competitive and define our future, as well as about some of the more near-term hurdles engineering faces with first-time quality and execution’.

Boeing’s defense, space and security unit is one of its three main businesses.

It has lost billions of dollars the last two years, which insiders have chalked to cost overruns on fixed-price contracts.

It is reported that, while these contracts have high margins, they also leave defense contractors vulnerable to inflationary pressures.

And these pressures have allegedly cut into US corporate earnings lately.

Colbert’s departure has been announced right at a time when Boeing is trying to tighten the belt by announcing furloughs while more than 32,000 of its workers are at strike.

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