HAZELWOOD — A Boeing supplier that plans to shutter by the end of the year agreed last month to not scrap parts needed to build military planes, a key concession as the White House pushes for a major $18 billion deal with Israel that could sell the U.S. ally as many as 50 F-15 fighter jets.
The dispute between Boeing and GKN Aerospace has taken on new urgency as Boeing eyes one of the largest potential U.S. arms deals with the Israeli government in years. The aerospace giant’s defense arm largely operates from ºüÀêÊÓƵ with some 16,000 employees in the region. The company is setting out on a $1.8 billion expansion of its facilities around ºüÀêÊÓƵ Lambert International Airport, as the aerospace industry ramps up for a national competition to build the next generation of U.S. fighter jets.
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For the last 18 months, though, it has been in litigation with a critical supplier, GKN Aerospace, over that company’s plans to shutter its Hazelwood factory by the end of the year and lay off the 700 or so workers there.
Boeing sued GKN and its British parent company, Melrose Industries, in December of 2022, claiming it was the only supplier capable of producing “superplastics†and “flight-control surfaces†used in the F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets assembled at Boeing’s nearby factory. Closure of the Hazelwood site, they argued, would breach GKN’s agreements to supply key parts for the fighter jets.
Boeing claimed Melrose hoped to force a sale of GKN to Boeing and even turned down other suitors. GKN and Melrose say keeping the factory open is “unsustainable.â€
Last month, Boeing lawyers requested an emergency hearing: GKN was planning to destroy certain parts and materials that “have been deemed obsolete or that are in excess to open requirements.†If the court didn’t intervene, they wrote, Boeing would be deprived of parts needed to build and maintain fighter jets.
GKN’s attorneys responded the same day. The company wouldn’t dispose of parts.
The frantic filing by Boeing shows just how critical GKN is to its F/A-18 and F-15 production lines. And, Boeing’s scramble to preserve GKN’s manufacturing capability came just a few weeks after the Defense Department quietly informed top Congressional leaders on key military and foreign affair committees of a major order for the F-15 from a longtime ally: Israel.
The news broke in Washington a couple weeks after the court filings in ºüÀêÊÓƵ: Israel wanted to buy up to 50 of Boeing’s new, modernized F-15EX fighters, a deal worth $18 billion, news first reported by and .
The Israel order could be a major new influx for work on the ºüÀêÊÓƵ assembly line. But it appears bogged down in the increasingly precarious politics surrounding Israel amid its ongoing war in Gaza. Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said until Israel agrees to curtail what he called “indiscriminate bombing†in Gaza. The State Department typically secures support for major arms deals with the top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate foreign affairs committees, .
The F-15 sale, if it is approved, would take years for Boeing to fulfill, so it’s not immediately related to the conflict in Gaza. The F-15EX is said to have more range and can carry the types of weapons Israel would need in striking Iran, the .
“In the end, Congress will support the sale of weapons to Israel,†Loren Thompson, a longtime Washington-based defense analyst, told the Post-Dispatch. “I cannot think of a single major weapon system that Israel has requested that Washington has said ‘no’ to.â€
In addition, Boeing recently secured an extension for the F/A-18, which was set to wind down new-build production in late 2025. Last month, the U.S. Navy awarded Boeing a $1.3 billion contract for 17 of the jets, extending production into the spring of 2027.
Boeing’s feud with GKN, though, shows its vulnerability to key suppliers. The fabrication business that GKN now owns used to be in-house in a more vertically integrated company before Boeing sold it to GKN in 2001.
“There have been concerns in recent years that Boeing may have outsourced too much work,†Thompson said. One way of dealing with that “is to try to absorb more of the supply chain into the company.â€
GKN said in a statement Friday that the timeline for the closure hasn’t changed.
“Discussions about the future of the site continue and we are hopeful of a successful resolution with Boeing,†the statement read.
Boeing said in a statement that it is working with GKN and its parent company, Melrose, to keep critical F-15 and F/A-18 manufacturing going.
“We would like to find a solution that will be beneficial to the employees and their families,†a Boeing spokeswoman said.
Editor’s note: This story was originally posted at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, and updated at 11:30 a.m. Friday with comment from GKN Aerospace.