Boeing [BA] and Lockheed Martin [LMT] are looking to $3.4 billion in local financing to aid company expansions for the development of their Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) systems.
Boeing wants $1.8 billion in bonds for “Operation Voyager” to build
1 million square feet of new assembly, hangar and operations space on 150 acres next to St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Berkeley, Mo.
The bond proposal could result in $155 million in tax relief for Boeing over the next decade, as the package would provide 50 percent real property tax and personal property tax abatement, as well as a sales tax exemption on construction materials, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page wrote in a July 21 letter to St. Louis County Council members.
“In return, the project will generate at least 500 new jobs and continue to support the approximate 16,000 employees who currently report to other locations in the region,” Page wrote. “Boeing St. Louis is Missouri’s largest manufacturer. Boeing produces a number of military aircraft, including the F/A-18 Super Hornet, EA—l8G Growler, and F-15 Eagle. As a result of the partnership and support of the state of Missouri and St. Louis County, Boeing has secured additional work packages, including the 777X, becoming an IT Center of Excellence, F-22 sustainment work, F-1SEX, and winning the T—7 and MQ-25A programs in 2018.”
The St. Louis County Council gave the green light to the bond package this month, but final approval may not come for several weeks.
In Georgia, Lockheed Martin plans to expand its Marietta plant, possibly by 3,000 workers, to aid the company’s NGAD development.
On Aug. 23 last year, the Development Authority of Cobb County approved up to $1.6 billion in bonds under “Project Mike” for expanding the Marietta plant–a package that comes with up to $77.9 million in tax relief for Lockheed Martin over 30 years.
Nelson Geter, the executive director of the Development Authority of Cobb County, has said that “Project Mike” is the largest project in the authority’s history and that Lockheed Martin made its first drawdown of the funding–$87 million–last December.
U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has raised the idea of companies building 1,000 unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to be employed by 200 NGAD manned fighters and 300 F-35As, but within the Air Force there is not a consensus on CCA numbers (Defense Daily, Aug. 9).
The 1,000 CCA target may grow. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown said in February that CCAs are likely not to be multi-mission, but to be specialized in missions, such as jamming, sensing, or air-to-air/air-to-ground attack, to reduce CCA unit costs.
Asked last month whether five was the Air Force’s working number for the high end of CCAs to be used by a manned fighter–a number Kendall laid out–Air Force Brig. Gen. Dale White, the program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft, told reporters that the Air Force intends to “break the mold” with CCA, as DoD has traditionally wanted “to grasp onto a firm requirement and then close the door” (Defense Daily, Aug. 2).
The Air Force plans to pick a company to build the NGAD manned fighter next year. Northrop Grumman [NOC] said last month that it has bowed out of the competition (Defense Daily, July 27).