On the Front Lines
Boeing products on the front lines of defense included helicopters, military cargo carriers, new aircraft, refueling tankers, airlifters and breakthrough technologies.
The new P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime aircraft (MMA), a derivative of the 737-800, began production May 14, 2004, when the U.S. Navy awarded the Boeing-led industry team, including CFM International, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Smiths Aerospace, a $3.89 billion contract to build the aircraft intended to replace the aging P-3Cs.
New ways of providing defense included the Sea-Based X-Band (SBX) Radar, a key component of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program that was officially dedicated on July 26, 2005, by the Boeing-led SBX industry team and the Missile Defense Agency. On Aug. 26, 2005, a Boeing F-15E fighter launched a hypersonic strike demonstrator vehicle called HyFly. The solid rocket booster successfully ignited and accelerated the HyFly to a speed of greater than Mach 3.
The first of four Italian Air Force KC-767As, advanced aerial refueling tankers, made its first flight across the Atlantic Ocean to the Paris Air Show on June 10, 2005, and the first KC-767 Tanker slated for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force made its first flight Dec. 21, 2006.
The MH-47G Special Operations Chinook was first delivered May 7, 2004, to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. The first production CH-47F Chinook helicopter first flew Oct. 25, 2006, and joined the U.S. Army's aviation fleet on Aug. 27, 2007. The first unit to be equipped with the new Chinook was Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), based at Fort Campbell, Ky.
During 2006, first flights included the second canard rotor/wing X-50A Dragonfly unmanned air vehicle and the A160 Hummingbird unmanned rotorcraft. The turbine-powered version, the A160T, made its first flight June 15, 2007.
By April 26, 2006, the U.S. Army AH-64 Apache combat helicopter fleet logged more than two million flight hours, and by November 2006, the ScanEagle UAV, had logged more than 20,000 combat flight hours supporting U.S. Marine ground force missions in Iraq.
The C-17 Globemaster III reached its million-hour milestone during a mission March 20, 2006, evacuating injured U.S. troops from Iraq. On May 22, 2006, the first production Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) I System was delivered. This was the first of more than 24,000 such weapons and 2,000 carriages the Boeing SDB team was slated to manufacture for the U.S. Air Force.
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