{"id":13933,"date":"2026-07-21T21:43:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/boeing-adjusts-approach-to-court-more-european-business\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T21:43:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:43:02","slug":"boeing-adjusts-approach-to-court-more-european-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/boeing-adjusts-approach-to-court-more-european-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing adjusts approach to court more European business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LONDON\u2014<\/strong>Keeping some things local will be key for U.S. weapons makers that want to expand their business in Europe, a top Boeing executive said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That can mean not being a prime on certain contracts, teaming with European defense companies, employing locals, and designing future platforms\u2014like the MQ-28 Ghost Bat\u2014with open architecture that can be tailored to fit international militaries\u2019 needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that we’ve been listening a little bit [differently] for the past couple of years, as there has been some kind of shift in Europe,\u201d Steve Parker, Boeing\u2019s president and CEO for its defense business, told reporters Sunday ahead of the Farnborough International Airshow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, as part of an upcoming bid competition, Boeing is pitching its T-7A fighter jet training platform\u2014built with Saab for the U.S. Air Force\u2014to be the Royal Air Force\u2019s next trainer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re going to bring what I believe is the world’s most advanced training system to the UK, and we’ll compete there very differently with a UK focus and a final assembly checkout line here,\u201d Parker said, \u201cWe are teamed with BAE Systems, and\u2026they will prime an opportunity for us, and this is all about British jobs.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

BAE Systems announced the solidification of the multivendor bid for T-7 on Tuesday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having BAE, Saab, and Boeing bid together \u201caligns with the ambition of the Defence Investment Plan, while strengthening the UK\u2019s sovereign industrial capability,\u201d Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems\u2019 CEO, said in a news release announcing the decision.<\/p>\n

And for Boeing, it\u2019s a way to emphasize their commitment to keeping European business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBoeing Defense UK, we started with five employees. We’re up to over 2,100\u2014those are 2,100 jobs here in the UK. I don’t care whose name is on the door,\u201d Chris Raymond, Boeing\u2019s president and CEO of global services told reporters. \u201cAnd you\u2019ve got to create those partnerships between a piece of kit they want and an industrial participation plan that works and gets the local capability starting to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raymond said the company has employed that strategy in the UK, Australia, India, Japan, and Canada.<\/p>\n

The comments come as the UK and other European countries boost their defense spending and increasingly look internally at domestic defense companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From a tech perspective, collaborative design using modular open systems architecture can give foreign governments more flexibility and \u201cprovides the country sovereignty,\u201d Parker said of Boeing\u2019s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, a collaborative combat aircraft that will be on display for the first time this week at Farnborough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The St. Louis-based company is working with Rheinmettall and others to put their technology on the German version of the Ghost Bat aircraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve teamed with Rheinmetall and a number of other German companies to offer that up to the [German armed forces] and the [German air force], and they will have similar control of what systems they want to put on,\u201d he said. \u201cWe’re changing the way we bring these capabilities to bear, and sort of the value proposition of the offering. And I think there’s more to come there as well. So, it’s playing out. We’ve been looking at it for a couple of years, and I think there’s a lot of opportunity for us if we think differently, which is what we’re doing.\u201d\n\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n