TECHNOLOGY

The head of Boeing’s space and defense business is leaving the company after years of losses from fixed-price contracts and a high-profile debacle with its space capsule that left two astronauts in space…

Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s new president and CEO, said on Friday that Ted Colbert, the head of the corporation’s troubled space and defense unit, will leave the company effective immediately.

As Caden Pearson reports via The Epoch Times, the move marks the first major leadership change under Ortberg, who took over in August.

Steve Parker, the unit’s chief operating officer, will assume Colbert’s responsibilities until a permanent replacement is named.

Boeing’s space business has suffered repeated setbacks, including NASA’s recent decision to send the Starliner capsule back to Earth without astronauts after years of issues.

Colbert’s exit also comes as Boeing grapples with a broader financial crunch.

The company announced furloughs for thousands of white-collar workers, while more than 32,000 workers remain on strike.

The company’s troubles extend to its commercial division, with a new Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 experiencing a mid-air emergency in January due to missing bolts. Boeing also faces ongoing scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has restricted the company from increasing production of the 737 Max until it makes substantial safety and quality improvements.

In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay $243.6 million in penalties after breaching a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. The U.S. government alleged that Boeing knowingly misrepresented information to the FAA about key software on the 737 Max, the same plane involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.

Ortberg, in a separate email to employees on Friday, emphasized the need for Boeing to regain its leadership in managing defense programs.

Parker, who joined Boeing’s industrial leadership team two years ago, was tapped to help overhaul Boeing’s defense programs and improve production efficiency.

He had previously led Boeing’s bomber and fighter programs as well as its defense plants in St. Louis.

Colbert joined Boeing in 2009 after working at Citigroup and Ford Motor. He served as Boeing’s chief information officer and lead its global-services business before running the defense unit from April 2022 after the previous leader was ousted.

As The FT reports, (more…)

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