Boeing Aims to Win 130 F-15 Fighter Orders From Asian Customers
By Lee Spears
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co., the second-largest U.S. defense contractor, is pursuing orders for 130 F-15 jet fighters from Asian customers as nations increase military spending.
Possible orders from South Korea and Japan would add to the 32 F-15s awaiting delivery in the region, Stephen Winkler, director of F-15 international programs at Chicago-based Boeing, said in a press briefing today at the Singapore Airshow. The orders will extend the F-15 production line in St. Louis, Missouri through 2012, he said.
Boeing and Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. are competing for overseas orders as growth in U.S. military spending slows. The proposed 2009 U.S. military budget from President George W. Bush's administration asks for $515.4 billion, an increase of 7.5 percent, compared with an 11 percent gain this year.
South Korea, which ordered 40 F-15K fighters in 2002, may ask for another 20 from Boeing by next month and another 60 later, Winkler said. Japan may order as many as 50 F-15s to replace two aging squadrons of F-4 fighters, he said.
Boeing has delivered 32 of the 40 F-15s that South Korea ordered in 2002 and will deliver the final eight by next year, Winkler said. Singapore has 24 of the fighters on order, he said.
The U.S. is phasing out the earlier model F-15s in favor of the new Lockheed Martin Corp. F-22 fighter. The Air Force, which says it needs more than 300 F-22s, has been limited by the Pentagon into buying 183.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=atfU6yMKOy0c&refer=us
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