国防业务告急，波音开始反击

    但不要就此宣告波音败局已定。BDS业务正在设法捕捉几个重要机会，如果成功，它就有希望获得一项大规模军用飞机订单。这是美国海军的第一个舰载无人空中监视和打击（UCLASS）项目，目标是到2020年实现在航空母舰上起降无人战斗机。波音、诺斯洛普格拉曼公司（Northrop Grumman）、洛克希德-马丁和通用原子公司（General Atomics）都会全力以赴地争夺这份合同，同时竭尽所能达到预计将在今年公布的产品最终要求。

    第二份合同可以说更为重要，这就是美国空军的远程打击轰炸机项目，外界对此期待已久。这个项目预计将包括约100架飞机，价值1000亿美元，而且每架飞机都将需要几十年的服务支持。波音正和洛克希德-马丁携手，跟诺斯洛普格拉曼公司争夺这份轰炸机合同，招标书有可能在明年公布。

    波音摆脱缓慢增长的捷径是与一家规模较小的同类公司合并，或者干脆收购它。阿伯拉菲亚说，诺斯洛普格拉曼公司就是这样的企业，它正在成为无人自主战斗机领域的龙头。如果并购成功，波音在赢得远程轰炸机合同方面多少就会有些保障，还会在UCLASS项目的争夺中占据有利位置。BDS业务仍然在捍卫自己在国防市场的位置。一旦失去这两个新一代战机项目中的任何一个，波音显然就会处于自己并不希望的境地。

    随着政府收紧国防开支，美国国防承包商开始越来越多地在海外寻找客户。雷蒙德认为，波音的BDS业务在海外市场有一个特别的优势——在这个环境中，它可以出售实用的、而不是最新最出色的产品。同时，借助繁荣的民航飞机业务，波音和海外政府及企业的关系也有望给它带来生意。

    雷蒙德说：“这需要在市场中培养大量紧密的关系，而商用飞机业务已经帮我们建立了这样的关系。”（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    But don't count the company out. BDS is pursuing several large opportunities that, if successful, would secure it another major, high-volume military aircraft production program. The first is the U.S. Navy's UCLASS (or Unmanned Carrier Launched Aerial Surveillance and Strike) program, which aims to field an unmanned fighter jet that can launch and recover aboard an aircraft carrier by 2020. Boeing, Northrop Grumman (NOC), Lockheed Martin, and General Atomics will all vie for that contract, the final requirements of which are expected this year.

    The second and arguably more important is the U.S. Air Force's long-awaited Long Range Strike Bomber program, which is expected to carry a $100 billion price tag for roughly 100 airframes, each of which will require service for decades to come. A Boeing-Lockheed collaboration is competing with a Northrop Grumman proposal for the bomber contract, whose requirements will also likely be released in the next year.

    An easy way out of sluggish growth for Boeing would be a merger or acquisition of a smaller peer company, Aboulafia says, such as Northrop Grumman, which is emerging as a leader in unmanned, autonomous flight. That deal would more or less ensure that Boeing wins the long-range bomber contract and put it in a good position to win the UCLASS contract. Still, BDS is working to defend its place in the defense marketplace, and failure to land the contract for one of these next-generation programs would put it in a place it clearly doesn't want to be.

    With domestic defense spending tightening, U.S. defense contractors are increasingly looking for customers abroad. It is in the international market that Raymond feels BDS has a particular advantage -- an environment where it can be an advantage to sell something that is effective but doesn't carry the price tag of the latest and greatest. And through its thriving civilian jet business, Boeing has relationships with foreign governments and companies that could translate into deals.

    "There's a lot of market intimacy you need to bring to that," Raymond says. "And we have that through our commercial business."