Rss Boeing Defence: The Reason We’re Here
Boeing Defence UK Ltd. (BDUK), has more than 800 employees at 29 locations throughout the United Kingdom supporting Ministry of Defence and U.S. military programmes. Over the past four and a half years, BDUK has consolidated Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security operations in the UK and now generates Intellectual Property on shore. BDUK also partners with select UK industry to deliver improved operational capability and meet evolving customer needs.
Boeing military platforms and sustainment programmes are at the heart of the support Boeing provides to the British Armed Forces, whether in the United Kingdom, in operational theatres, or elsewhere in the world.
Aircraft such as the Boeing-designed Apache, C-17, Chinook, and E-3 Sentry have become iconic capabilities for British Forces during campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
The need for these aircraft is great; and keeping aircraft ready for operations is paramount. Boeing provides a wide range of support services to help customers maintain operational readiness. These include: MAOS-accredited maintenance; air worthiness support services; supply chain management; quality assurance; and engineering design to meet Urgent Operational Requirements.
Support is provided 24/7. The goal of Boeing on programmes such as Chinook Through Life Customer Support, Apache Integrated Operational Support and C-17 Globemaster III Integrated Sustainment is to deliver capability to those on the front line who are in harm’s way every day.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence is moving towards a contracting-for-capability model of procurement, and Boeing is well-placed to provide comprehensive support throughout the life-cycle of many critical capabilities. Flexible, innovative contracting allows the incremental upgrading of capabilities, while maintaining interoperability with key allies.
Boeing provides support services both in the UK and deployed in theatre, recognizing the imperative to maximize operational availability. As industry’s role in providing such services increases, Boeing also recognizes that the part it plays in delivering operational success must be at best value-for-money; and that this will most likely be achieved through original thinking about how to do things quite differently, as well as with greater efficiency.
As a delivery partner to the MOD, Boeing works to understand the needs of the customer and to develop a joint vision to deliver successful programmes. The company’s overall performance places it in the top quartile of the Ministry of Defence’s annual supplier rating report card. That rating is based on Boeing’s commitment to achieving quality first time, requirements compliance and delivering on time, to budget.
The ability to reach back into the larger Boeing enterprise in the U.S. and worldwide is fundamental to the success of Boeing. The UK-based team interacts daily with the wider Boeing enterprise, tapping into a wealth of knowledge and experience that is available to the UK business.
Training is a growing business for Boeing with the main focus on supporting the front line war-fighter, especially through pre-deployment training. Boeing is able to provide hands-on technical expertise and experience, simulation systems and tools, systems architecture and engineering, and technical support and systems operations for a wide variety of platforms, both Boeing’s and others.
Every day, Boeing manages its supply chain from the factory to the front line, delivering its services to support Service personnel deployed on operations.
Management of a global support chain is an area in which Boeing excels and has taken the lessons learned from the larger organisation and applied them to the benefit of the UK customer.
Commanders rely on their support chain to execute their mission successfully. Reliable infrastructure is vital if the customer is to make informed and timely decisions. The support provided by Boeing through programmes such as Logistic Network Enabled Capability (LogNEC) is fundamental to providing commanders with the means to make such decisions and to manage that support chain effectively.
Boeing also works on a number of projects under various Cooperative Research & Development Agreements with both the UK’s Ministry of Defence and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), especially in concept development.
Looking forward to what technology will bring and where investments might best be made enables Boeing to focus on its customer’s priorities and evolving needs. Through innovative modeling, simulation and experimentation, the Boeing Portal works with customers to evaluate concepts and untested capabilities through virtual concepts of operations. Through efforts such as these, concepts can quickly be turned into developed prototypes, saving time, money and, most importantly, lives.
It’s the commitment of Boeing employees, both here in the UK and elsewhere, that makes a difference on the front line. Their motivation comes from knowing that they are delivering first-class military capability and knowing that soldiers, sailors and airmen benefit from what Boeing does on a daily basis.
Every aspect of Boeing is geared towards improving the level of support to service personnel on operations. Having aircraft on the flight line in support of British troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere is not just about business; it’s about saving lives.
After all, they’re the reason we’re here.
