Boeing explores sale of NASA business

[spacenut]

Engineering and building things doesn't change so much.  For the government it is the social programs that will change the most.  Boeing may sell parts of their space related business, but not all.  Some are very profitable.  They have had some setbacks, especially after they bought McDonald-Douglas a few years ago.  MD was having problems and that got incorporated into Boeing it seems like to me. 

[Eric Hedman]

Q1 revenue for Boeing is up 18% over Q1 of 2024 based upon delivery of 130 airliners.  There orders and backlog both grew in the quarter.  There negative cashflow is much smaller.  They may no longer have as much pressure to sell. 

https://investors.boeing.com/investors/news/press-release-details/2025/Boeing-Reports-First-Quarter-Results/default.aspx

They are getting the new Air Force One aircraft back on track with the help of Elon Musk.  An interesting quote from the new Boeing CEO:

“Elon Musk is actually helping us a lot in working through the requirements on VC-25 to try to help us get the things that are non-value added constraints out of the way so that we can move faster and get the president those airplanes delivered. He's a brilliant guy, so he's able to pretty quickly ascertain the difference between technical requirements and things that we can move out of the way,” Kelly Ortberg said Thursday during a Barclays conference.

https://www.defenseone.com/business/2025/02/musk-helping-remove-constraints-speed-air-force-one-delivery-boeing-ceo/403151/

[meekGee]

...
An interesting quote from the new Boeing CEO:

“Elon Musk is ... a brilliant guy, so he's able to pretty quickly ascertain the difference between technical requirements and things that we can move out of the way,”

https://www.defenseone.com/business/2025/02/musk-helping-remove-constraints-speed-air-force-one-delivery-boeing-ceo/403151/

I had to read this twice. I still don't know what to make of it.

[Robotbeat]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

[meekGee]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

Yes but it's got to be an over-simplification..  I mean, nobody at Boeing could do that?

I think maybe it's more about his clout used to cut through a bunch of lawyer-ish stand off posturing BS, as often happens between procurement offices.

[mn]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

Yes but it's got to be an over-simplification..  I mean, nobody at Boeing could do that?

I think maybe it's more about his clout used to cut through a bunch of lawyer-ish stand off posturing BS, as often happens between procurement offices.

I suspect it's more about Boeing sucking up to trump/musk before the whole project is cancelled.

[Robotbeat]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

Yes but it's got to be an over-simplification..  I mean, nobody at Boeing could do that?

…

Why would there be anyone left at Boeing who thinks like that?

[meekGee]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

Yes but it's got to be an over-simplification..  I mean, nobody at Boeing could do that?

I think maybe it's more about his clout used to cut through a bunch of lawyer-ish stand off posturing BS, as often happens between procurement offices.

I suspect it's more about Boeing sucking up to trump/musk before the whole project is cancelled.

Haha that was my other thought but I suddenly got coy....

[aperh1988]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

Yes but it's got to be an over-simplification..  I mean, nobody at Boeing could do that?

Boeing is the contractor they don’t set the requirements, the customer, in this case the fed government/air force do. Musk is supposedly working on that side to simplify and rework certain rqts/expectations in order to allow Boeing to deliver faster. You think Boeing gets to just decide oh we’ll just add/remove so and so capability to this thing?

[meekGee]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

Yes but it's got to be an over-simplification..  I mean, nobody at Boeing could do that?

Boeing is the contractor they don’t set the requirements, the customer, in this case the fed government/air force do. Musk is supposedly working on that side to simplify and rework certain rqts/expectations in order to allow Boeing to deliver faster. You think Boeing gets to just decide oh we’ll just add/remove so and so capability to this thing?

It's almost never single sided.  Requirements are not always unambiguous.  (Are they biguous?)  And there's always arguments over this.

In theory, Boeing can push back and never accept a requirement that's not entirely precise, but first you can't always push back when the customer is bugger than you, and second, perhaps sometimes they want it that way.  More wiggle room.

And sadly, the arguments take the form of legal bickering, with engineering sense taking a far back seat.

[Robotbeat]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

Yes but it's got to be an over-simplification..  I mean, nobody at Boeing could do that?

I think maybe it's more about his clout used to cut through a bunch of lawyer-ish stand off posturing BS, as often happens between procurement offices.

I suspect it's more about Boeing sucking up to trump/musk before the whole project is cancelled.

Okay, fair. Boeing probably is kinda desperate.

[Eric Hedman]

It makes sense. It’s the sort of thing one would’ve hoped Elon would be doing at DOGE (and as Trump’s advisor) instead of the political circus it seemed to be.

Yes but it's got to be an over-simplification..  I mean, nobody at Boeing could do that?

I think maybe it's more about his clout used to cut through a bunch of lawyer-ish stand off posturing BS, as often happens between procurement offices.

I suspect it's more about Boeing sucking up to trump/musk before the whole project is cancelled.

Okay, fair. Boeing probably is kinda desperate.

This contract is not going to get canceled.  The existing Air Force Ones are old and out dated.  It would cost more to update the existing planes with the new technology developed for Air Force One.  No new 4 engine aircraft is in production for the role.  It has to be 4 engine since it has to be able to fly extended period with one engine out and refueling in air in times of national emergencies.  There is no timely alternative.

[SoftwareDude]

...
An interesting quote from the new Boeing CEO:

“Elon Musk is ... a brilliant guy, so he's able to pretty quickly ascertain the difference between technical requirements and things that we can move out of the way,”

https://www.defenseone.com/business/2025/02/musk-helping-remove-constraints-speed-air-force-one-delivery-boeing-ceo/403151/

I had to read this twice. I still don't know what to make of it.

I often see requirements written in a way that implies a solution. These requirements create a box that organizations get stuck in. The customer who specified the requirements thinks they know the solution; it's obvious to them, and they write the requirements that way. I think Elon has been adept at sorting out the requirements from the solution in the past.

So, for example, you get this requirement for a reusable space plane that can be landed. Still, when one starts asking more questions, they might realize that the reusable space plane is a solution the customer came up with to the underlying requirement of lowering the cost of transportation to orbit.