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Lockheed could probably still do it, but these days Boeing itself contracts out a lot of the manufacturing to companies like Spirit Aerosystems. The real capab
by cameldrv 5y ago
Lockheed could probably still do it, but these days Boeing itself contracts out a lot of the manufacturing to companies like Spirit Aerosystems. The real capability Boeing has is in engineering and systems integration, and those capabilities are looking shakier than they used to.
One dark horse competitor to Boeing is Gulfstream. The G700 is a business jet, but it has a 53 ton takeoff weight, which is about as much as a 737-100. Gulfstream also delivers plenty of aircraft to the military and is part of General Dynamics. They pretty clearly have the capability to make largish jets.
- sofixa 5y agoRegarding Gulfstream, we saw how a similar thing played out with Bombardier and their C-Series. It had cost overruns and delays, but in the end resulted in a pretty good plane that would have been successful if not for US protectionism and Boeing being afraid of any competition. Instead Bombardier are ruined, had to do a fire sale, and Airbus got the C-Series programme for free.