Boeing to relocate Super Hornet upgrade work out of St. Louis facilities | Latest Lifestyle News
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Boeing announced plans on Sept. 24 to move its F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet upgrades work out of its St. Louis-area facilities starting in 2026.
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Boeing intends to sunset the Super Hornet’s St.Louis-based work in 2027. The news comes amid an ongoing tense workers’ strike, which a company spokesperson said in an email is not related.
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Additionally, the U.S. Navy modified the company’s contract, awarding $198 million to provide service life modifications and integrating avionics capabilities for the Super Hornet.
The company is considering relocating the Super Hornet work to its other sites, starting with its facilities in Jacksonville, Florida, and San Antonio, according to the press release. In addition to St. Louis, the modification work is also currently being performed in San Antonio and Jacksonville as well as at the Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center Southwest in San Diego.
“Given we are already successfully conducting SLM at other locations, this move is logical so we can continue to meet our customers commitments while ensuring we are well poised for future work,” Dan Gillian, VP and general manager of Air Dominance and senior St. Louis site executive, said in a statement.
The facilities in St. Louis and St. Charles, Missouri, and Mascoutah, Illinois, assemble other military aircraft under Boeing’s defense segment. In addition to the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the plants produce the F-15, the T-7A Red Hawk trainer, the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueler, the Joint Direct Attack Munition and other munitions for prominent customers such as the U.S. Air Force and other foreign militaries.
In March, the Department of Defense awarded Boeing and Lockheed Martin a contract valued at $20 billion to codevelop a new fighter jet, the F-47.
Boeing workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 are “deeply” disappointed with the company’s decision to relocate the Super Hornet work out of the St. Louis area, Tom Boelling, the union’s directing business representative, said in an email statement.
“Unfortunately, Boeing chose to make this announcement while our skilled members remain on the picket line fighting for dignity, respect, and a fair contract,” Boelling added. “We stand ready to meet with Boeing anyplace, anytime. As we continue to say, the ball is in Boeing’s court.”
Boeing and IAM District 837’s bargaining committees agreed to resume negotiations on Monday to end the strike with the help of a federal mediator, the union said in a statement on Friday. The strike is now entering its ninth week.
Boeing’s spokesperson said that the company’s decision to move the upgrades program work was made earlier in the year.
“Boeing regularly looks at the best ways to consolidate and maintain resources while meeting our customers’ needs,” the company spokesperson said in a statement. “This is an example of that activity.”
Additionally, the modified Navy contract divided up the amount of work that each of the sites will perform: San Diego, 44.4%; San Antonio, 43.1%; and St. Louis, 12.5%.
Boeing and the Navy first established the Super Hornet modernization program in 2018 in St. Louis, initiating an unlimited quantity contract valued at up to $73 million over the next 10 years.
The deal led to the award of additional contracts for Boeing to continue the Super Hornet’s modernization work at its St. Louis facilities since then: $366.5 million in December 2021, $313.4 million in April 2023, $9.8 million in November 2023, and $457.7 million in May 2024.
The company later expanded its Super Hornet operations to San Antonio and Jacksonville, and also expanded its St. Louis area site. Last year, Boeing acquired a GKN Aerospace parts facility in Hazelwood, Missouri, preventing its shuttering and transitioning the factory’s capabilities and operations to support the F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-15 fighter jet programs.
The company has focused on streamlining its defense segment’s operations. Last week, Boeing announced its partnership with software developer Palantir at the Air, Space & Cyber Conference. An investment amount was not disclosed.
Boeing will use Palantir’s Foundry artificial intelligence platform to consolidate its complex and diverse systems across its defense, space and security factories and programs, according to the press release. In addition to military aircraft, the BDS segment’s production lines manufacture helicopters, satellites, spacecraft, missiles and weapons.
Boeing will utilize data analytics and insights across its defense factories. Palantir will also provide the company with AI expertise and capabilities for several of Boeing’s undisclosed classified and business activities focused on its military customers’ hypersensitive missions.
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