Chris Chadwick, President, Boeing Military Aircraft, is in charge of six divisions—airborne battle management, airlift and tankers, global strike systems, rotorcraft systems, unmanned airborne systems, and weapons. In an interview with SP’s Editor-in-Chief Jayant Baranwal during Farnborough Airshow 2010 in London, he spoke about the company’s growing presence in the international defence market.

Jayant Baranwal (SP’s): Can you tell us about how the division controlled by you evolved since the merger of leading aviation giants McDonnell Douglas and Boeing in 1997? How has Boeing benefited with this merger?

Chris Chadwick (Chris): The way we moved forward is to focus on the market through the eyes of our customers. So instead of focusing on a product, we are focusing on capability. The three areas that we were going to look at are mobility, strike, and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). That is more a ladder to move forward with more solutions and systems capability, we have added tremendous capability in the unmanned arena. We have expanded our weapons business. We continue to look at what are the next generation capabilities like training or advanced strike, or even the next generation of highend unmanned vehicles.

SP’s: What has been the share of the market in the last 10 years, export versus domestic?

Chris: We have had good fortune of having stable products that tend to have low risk with right capabilities at the right price. If we go back by, say, five years, the international portfolio was around 10 per cent. As we go up over to the next 5-10 years, I think it will double or more because there is a huge market, a historic window of opportunity in international arena with countries like India obviously, and also the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. There has been a lot of growth domestically. It will be flat in the next 5-10 years I think, but international role is booming.

SP’s: What led to the evolution of F-18 as a multi-role fighter for air forces? Is any version of F-18 being operated in the US, and since when?

Chris: In reference to the Super Hornet that is the F/A-18E being single seat and F being dual seat, the latest build up is the E/A-18G, which is the electronic attack version currently being operated by the US Navy. It has probably around 350 or so aeroplanes in its fleet. The earlier version of the Hornets is in seven international air forces and we have just started to expand internationally with the Super Hornet, the most recent customer being Australia. There is competition at present in Denmark, Brazil, India, and Japan. We see a lot more opportunities; we believe the fighter market will continue to expand.

SP’s: It started as maritime air fighter and evolved as a fighter for the air forces. How did it happen?

Chris: The approach that was taken was to design as a multi-role fighter which does have maritime capabilities. We found the inherent capabilities which give you the multi-role capability for air-to-air and air-to-ground, the Block 2 capability that was integrated into the Super Hornet in 2007 with active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, fibre bus, an expanded cockpit really lends it into the naval version of war fighting or land version of warfighting or for air forces around the world.

SP’s: Which country is at present the largest user of F-18 in Asia?

Chris: There are many countries. Malaysia has F-18s and as we move forward, I think India could be the largest if the MMRCA deal gets finalised in our favour. There are other Asia-Pacific countries that will look into these capabilities. We can give you a list of the countries with specific number of F-18s being operated by them.

SP’s: You mentioned about the Royal Australian Air Force. Any feedback from their side?

Chris: It has not been too long since we delivered our first five aircraft. The Royal Australian Air Force has been a long time customer of the Hornet and now the Super Hornet. One of the things that they are extremely happy about is that it operates with the US forces, both Navy and Air Force. It has state-of-the-art equipment which works in the 21st century. It really has state-of-the-art equipment which gives them the balanced blend of right capability and the right cost at the right time with low risk. We will be able to deliver the aircraft in a fairly short time.

SP’s: There have been perceptions that the selection of F-18 has been more of political and less of technical success. Is this true?

Chris: There is always a political element to an international competition. Our view is that the F-18 Super Hornet is the most advanced technological multi-role fighter in the world today and will continue to be for a long time. What we have been able to do with our navy customer is make the right investments and you have seen integration of new capabilities as the years have gone by. So, the cost has been coming down with the capabilities going up. It is the most capable multi-role fighter available today worldwide.

SP’s: So it has really not been a political choice, but a technical choice.

Chris: At the end of the day we try to meet our customers’ requirements. The air force and navy really tend to push you to have the right capabilities. Without the right capability, the sales will never be made.

SP’s: Can you give inputs about how the market is responding to C-17, the rates of success in terms of sales after the merger of McDonnell Douglas with Boeing?

Chris: Prior to the merger, a majority of the sales was domestic with the United States Air Force. But as we started looking forward in the next 3-4 years and as the international market continued to grow, we had sales to the United Kingdom, we had sales to NATO and now the Middle East is opening up, for instance Qatar. India has requested for C-17; we just went through the flight trials. We have a good opportunity internationally in the next 3-5 years, which really is a change from how we used to sell the C-17, mainly domestic.

SP’s: The European industry has seen various tie-ups and mergers. As a result, the aerospace and military aviation industry there has gained considerable strength to offer latest technological solutions in fighters, trainers, transporters, special mission aircraft, refuellers, helicopters and unmanned solutions. What steps has Boeing taken to counter the threat that is arising from time to time?

Chris: We have a competitive advantage as we have long production lines in the domestic arena. In line in the rotorcraft side of the business, Chinook, Apache Block III which is the latest generation of Apaches, and the V-22. We got customers for multi-year contracts for these products. With regard to the fighter side, the F-18 continues to go strong. We are close to signing the third contract with the Super Hornet. We extend that production line to the middle of the decade. If we look at the C-17, it’s the workforce of the United States Air Force. Unmanned is growing. If we look at tankers we do have some international capabilities. As the air force takes decision in November we are pretty happy about the position we have today in terms of air force standards. So with that it allows us to expand with derivatives for domestic customers and also for international customers. We are able to go head to head with our competitors in Europe and international arena. There are certain cases where we wanted the team with them because they do have the good capability and we certainly make a turf for market environment.

SP’s: Is C-17 progressing very well?

Chris: What is exciting about the Indian market is you have a customer who is extremely smart, understands what is war fighting, and has been in the business for a long time. The Indian customers are very easy to deal with and along with it you have an industrial base, which through reform measures the MoD in India is taking, is really allowing to expand. So our first position is to sell the right products and capabilities in the way we partner with those industries in the future. That’s what we have done with the P-8I to find the industrial partners who can help us. As we go forward with C-17, F/A-18 and with rotorcraft competitions with Apache and Chinook, our plan is to partner with Indian industries and make the relationship a success that will last for a long time.

SP’s: Do you foresee India as partner in any of the fifth generation programmes, and if so with what kind of potentials?

Chris: I think the Indian customer will need to determine exactly what kind of capability is needed. Indians have shown in the past and they will continue showing in the future that they will reach out to any country and any company that has the right capability for their needs. We look forward to the P-8I, C-17 and the Harpoon deals. The Boeing Company has begun to provide the Indian Air Force and Navy with rocksolid capabilities at the right price.