Boeing Joins in Eurofighter Bid

Competition to market the next generation of air-to-air missiles intensified Wednesday with Boeing Co. teaming up with British Aerospace and France’s Aerospatiale Matra in a bid to arm the Eurofighter jet.

By bringing U.S. heavyweight Boeing on board, the European partners in the Meteor missile project hope to beat out another American defense industry power, Raytheon Co., for the $1.7-billion contract with Britain’s Royal Air Force.

British Aerospace and Aerospatiale Matra also said Wednesday they have agreed with Italy’s Finmeccanica to pool their missile operations into a single business. The combination would be second only to Raytheon in that business.

Boeing and its European partners will compete head-to-head with Raytheon to supply missiles for the 232 Eurofighter Typhoon jets that Britain has ordered. The Eurofighter is being developed by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Lexington, Mass.-based Raytheon had no immediate comment.

Boeing will help make the Meteor’s systems compatible with U.S. aircraft and those of other countries and will provide expertise in low-cost manufacturing, a spokesman for the Seattle-based firm said.

Boeing will act as an advisor and won’t take an ownership stake in the venture, which will continue to be controlled by the European partners through a partnership called Matra BAe Dynamics.

Boeing, which makes the Harpoon anti-ship missile, sees the Meteor as a good opportunity to expand into the air-to-air side of the missile business.