Boeing Division Lands $179-Million Air Force Contract

Boeing Co.’s North American Aircraft Division received a $179-million Air Force contract Wednesday to upgrade offensive avionics computers and software and upgrade the weapons capability of the B-1B bomber fleet.

Principal work will be done at North American Aircraft’s headquarters in Seal Beach and at Boeing Military Airplane Division in Seattle. Other Boeing facilities in Palmdale, Edwards Air Force Base and Oklahoma City will also participate.

A spokesman said that the contract isn’t expected to generate new jobs, but added that North American Aircraft already has openings for about 100 engineers because of previous contracts.

North American Aircraft--which was the original builder of the B-1B and has long held the contract to upgrade the aircraft--is one of the businesses Boeing acquired in December when it purchased Rockwell International Corp.’s defense and aerospace units. Boeing was a subcontractor on the B-1B.

The five-year avionics and weapons system contract covers the engineering and manufacturing development phase of a program to upgrade all 95 B-1B bombers.