Boeing wants to expand its defense business outside the US, as it moves to compensate for Washington’s cuts in defense spending, a leading executive said yesterday.
Dennis Muilenburg, president and chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, said the aerospace giant aimed to sell more fighters, airlift planes and unmanned systems in Asia.
The international market now accounts for about 16 percent of Boeing’s total annual defense revenues of US$34 billion and the company plans to expand this to 20 to 25 percent in the next five years, Muilenberg said.
The Asia-Pacific now contributes half of non-US revenues, he told reporters in Singapore, where he was attending a security forum.
“We’ve seen some flattening in the US defense budget and that has impacted us in a couple of areas like missile defences,” he said.
With demand for its main products remaining robust, the company is expanding into other businesses such as unmanned systems, computer systems security and protecting electrical power grids.
It is also expanding its business outside the US military and is looking for more contracts in India, Singapore, Australia, South Korea and Japan, Muilenburg said.
India has signed a deal to buy eight P8i anti-submarine aircraft from Boeing and has expressed an interest in purchasing 10 C-17 military transport aircraft.
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