Aerospace manufacturing giant Boeing has been awarded a $212 million contract by the Department of Defense to repair military fighter jets, the department announced Tuesday.
This job requires Boeing in St. LouisMissouri, repairing various configurations of flight control surfaces on 11 Navy F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G aircraft.
Some of the work will be done in St. Louis, but the bulk of the repairs will be in Jacksonville, Fla. The Pentagon said the work is expected to be completed by December 2028. The $1 million contract comes as the aircraft maker has come under intense scrutiny for safety concerns and alleged lack of oversight.
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A Boeing 737 MAX 9 test aircraft is seen parked at Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, on March 22, 2019. The aircraft maker has been awarded a $212 million contract by the Department of Defense to repair the fighter jets. (Stephen Brasher/Getty Images)
“Boeing enjoys billions of taxpayer dollars every year, and thousands of Americans rely on Boeing aircraft every day to get from point A to point B,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, recently told Fox News Digital. “By cutting corners and turning a blind eye to obvious problems, Boeing is putting passenger safety at significant risk.”
Senator Grassley announced the investigation into Boeing amid a series of accidents involving the company’s planes. In January, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737 Max aircraft, lost a door panel at an altitude of 16,000 feet, an incident that was recorded and quickly went viral on social media.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft participating in BALTOPS-22 flies over the Baltic Sea region on June 9, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Swift)
Additionally, whistleblower John Barnett, who alleged that a Boeing factory in South Carolina used substandard parts and failed to track defective parts, recently committed suicide. Death in March It was ruled a suicide.
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A door panel on a Boeing 737-9 MAX blew off mid-flight after Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 took off from Portland International Airport on January 5. (NTSB)
Barnett was undergoing a deposition as part of a retaliation lawsuit against Boeing, where his lawyers argue the company was responsible for his death. At least a dozen Boeing whistleblowers have raised concerns about the company’s quality assurance and corporate culture since the Alaska Airlines crash.
The aircraft manufacturer is currently under investigation by multiple federal agencies.
Outgoing Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun, testifying before senators on Tuesday, mentioned the families of passengers who died in crashes of the aerospace manufacturer’s planes.
Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia, in October 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed in Ethiopia minutes after takeoff in March 2019. Both flights involved Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, and 346 people were killed in the two crashes.
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“On behalf of everyone at Boeing, I want to personally apologize,” Calhoun told the families of the victims, who held signs bearing photos of the victims. “We offer our deepest condolences. Nothing is more important than the safety of the people who fly on our aircraft, and every day we strive to honor the memory of those we lost through our unwavering commitment to safety and quality.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Boeing, the Department of Defense and the White House.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Lewis and FOX Business’ Brec Dumas contributed to this report.
