Overview
Boeing is commonly associated with commercial aeroplanes; however, Boeing is also one of the world’s largest defence contractors. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Boeing is the fourth-largest arms-producing and military services company, with arms revenue making up 44% of Boeing’s total revenue in 2022.[1] In 2023, Boeing’s total revenue was A$114.18 billion.[2]
Boeing is a US multinational corporation. Most of Boeing’s shares are owned by institutional investors and entities, including Vanguard Group and BlackRock.[3]
Products designed, manufactured and sold by Boeing include:[4]
- AH-6 Light Attack Helicopter
- AH-64 Apache
- B-1B Lancer (bomber aircraft)
- B-52 (bomber aircraft)
- C-17 Globemaster III (military transport aircraft)
- F-15EX (fighter aircraft)
- F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet (fighter aircraft)
- H-47 Chinook (heavy-lift helicopter)
- MH-139A Grey Wolf (multi-mission helicopter)
- MQ-25 (unmanned aircraft)
- MQ-28 (unmanned aircraft)
- P8-A Poseidon (maritime patrol aircraft)
- V-22 Osprey (multirole combat aircraft)
- Munitions, including Small Diameter Bomb (SDB)
- Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)
Boeing and war crimes in occupied Palestine
According to Boeing, “Boeing’s relationship with the Israeli Defense Forces dates back to the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 when the Israeli Air Force (IAF) began flying the B-17 Flying Fortress.”[5] Today, the IOF operates nine different Boeing products, including the F-15 Eagle and AH-64A Peten (Cobra) Apache.[6] Boeing also helped develop Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defence system, which is “designed to intercept targets in space”.[7] It is estimated that Boeing has made $50-$100 billion in revenue through arms sales to Israel.[8]
Boeing’s “longstanding connection with Israel” has come under scrutiny since October 2023.[9] According to Amnesty, remnants of U.S-made JDAMs (kits which convert unguided bombs into GPS-guided weapons) were found at the site of two air strikes in Deir al Balah in the Gaza strip, which occurred on 10th October 2023 and 22nd October 2023, killing 43 people. Significantly, “codes found on fragments of the JDAM kits link back to Boeing.”[10]
Additionally, “evidence of a GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, a precision guided weapon with a smaller warhead made in the U.S. by Boeing” was discovered following a strike in January 2024 on a residential building in Rafah “when it was supposedly the ‘safest’ area in the strip”.[11]
For more information about Boeing’s complicity in Israel’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza, see this report published by the Who Profits Research Center: https://www.whoprofits.org/publications/report/170?the-companies-supplying-weapons-to-israel-s-attack-on-gaza
Boeing in Australia
With over 5,000 employees, Australia “represents one of the company’s largest operational footprints outside the United States”.[12] Over 100 Boeing defence products are acquired and maintained in the country.[13]
Boeing is embedded in Australian industry and research: for example, CSIRO has a 30 year relationship with Boeing, having “jointly invested over $120 million across a wide range of projects”.[14] Boeing has also established partnerships with 16 Australian universities,[15] funding a range of scholarships, awards and outreach programs. In 2017, Boeing opened a research centre in the St Lucia campus of the University of Queensland: “the first time in the Asia-Pacific region that Boeing has co-located research within a university.”[16] In 2022, Boeing announced its collaboration with the University of Adelaide and University of New South Wales on the Defence Trailblazer Concept to Sovereign Capability (CSC) project, “contribut[ing] to the $50 million government-funded project through its prototype development arm, Phantom Works International”.[17]
For more information about Boeing and its connection to arms development and production, particularly in Brisbane, QLD, see this informative article by Miriam Deprez published in Overland: https://overland.org.au/2024/03/militarised-brisbane-weapons-manufacturers-university-partnerships-and-grass-roots-activism/
Management
Maria Fernandez is President Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific.
Amy List was appointed managing director of Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) in February 2024.[18]
Subsidiaries
Subsidiaries of Boeing Australia include:[19]
- Boeing Australia Holdings Proprietary Limited
- Boeing Distribution Australia Pty Ltd
- Boeing Aerostructures Australia Pty Limited
- Boeing Defence Australia Ltd
- Boeing Distribution Services Pty Ltd
- Insitu Pacific Pty Ltd
- Jeppesen Australia Pty Ltd
Contact
The Boeing Co.
929 Long Bridge Drive
22202, Arlington
+703-465-3500
Boeing – Australia & South Pacific
Boeing Australia
Level 10, Exchange House
10 Bridge St
Sydney NSW 2000
AUSTRALIA
Telephone: +61 2 9086 3300
For contact details of Boeing subsidiaries see: https://www.boeing.com.au/about-boeing-in-australia/locations#anchor2
News
“Boeing Accelerates Delivery of Up to 1,800 GPS-Guidance Bomb Kits to Israel”
October 19, 2023, published by Bloomberg
“Boeing Co. is speeding delivery to Israel of as many as 1,800 kits that convert unguided bombs into precision munitions, according to congressional aides and a US official.”
[1] https://www.sipri.org/visualizations/2023/sipri-top-100-arms-producing-and-military-services-companies-world-2022
[2] https://companiesmarketcap.com/aud/boeing/revenue/
[3] https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BA/holders/
[4] https://www.boeing.com/defense#products
[5] https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/boeing/boeingdotcom/company/key_orgs/boeing-global/pdf/israelbackgrounder.pdf
[6] https://www.boeing.com/content/dam/boeing/boeingdotcom/company/key_orgs/boeing-global/pdf/israelbackgrounder.pdf
[7] https://www.businessinsider.com/how-boeing-helped-develop-israels-missile-defense-system-2024-4
[8] https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7372?boeing-company
[9] https://www.seattletimes.com/business/as-opposition-to-israels-war-in-gaza-grows-boeing-arms-sales-draw-scrutiny/
[10] https://time.com/6342821/israel-airstrike-us-military-war-crimes/
[11] https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/u-s-made-weapons-used-by-government-of-israel-in-violation-of-international-law-and-u-s-law/
[12] https://www.boeing.com.au/content/dam/boeing/en-au/pdf/Australia-Backgrounder.pdf
[13] https://www.boeing.com.au/content/dam/boeing/en-au/pdf/Australia-Backgrounder.pdf
[14] https://www.csiro.au/en/work-with-us/services/research-and-development/boeing
[15] https://www.boeing.com.au/content/dam/boeing/en-au/pdf/Australia-Backgrounder.pdf
[16] https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2017/06/boeing-opens-research-centre-uq
[17] https://www.boeing.com.au/content/dam/boeing/en-au/pdf/news/2022-05-10-Boeing-blazes-a-defence-research-trail-with-Adelaide-university.pdf
[18] https://www.australiandefence.com.au/news/news/boeing-appoints-new-managing-director
[19] https://www.boeing.com.au/about-boeing-in-australia#anchor1