Boeing needs to take a serious step back and rethink their business model. Fixed-price is the future of pretty much all aerospace and they ain't doing it. They're losing fists of cash on the next-gen Air Force One too.
Were it me I'd be questioning any open contracts I had with them right about now
@olavf@AstroHawk They’ve also lost about $5 billion on the development of the KC-46 tanker aircraft, which is staggering since it’s based on the existing 767.
@olavf@AstroHawk What’s especially troubling to me about Starliner is the somewhat random nature of the problems — multiple software errors, valve problems, parachute concerns, flammable wire harness tape… It doesn’t seem like things are getting refined, but instead that various design issues pop up when that aspect of the vehicle is stressed. It suggests there are other issues still lurking.
@michaelgemar @AstroHawk
To be fair, the parachute lanyard issue is on the manufacturer. But the OG valves was a spec or testing issue (moisture infiltration due to longer than expected time at the pad). The OG s/w problem, department silos w/ no end-to-end testing. The tape problem is assuredly a spec problem, where the tape used was industry standard, but not suitable for the specific application and slipped past design review
Probably a lot of this was management, not designers
@olavf@AstroHawk You’re likely correct, but what’s troubling is the shear variety of the problems. There doesn’t seem to be one process or type of oversight that failed — rather, a whole slew of inadequacies have been revealed, leading me to believe there are others lurking. At an institutional level, Boeing seems bad at aerospace.
@michaelgemar @AstroHawk
I'll separate Boeing the airplane company from Boeing the aerospace company, since they basically are two companies.
The mil/aero side has been cost+ since forever, including the SLS contracts. Big, bulky, and reliant on gov't contracts, including their stake in ULA (they provided the Deltas, NG the Atlas). Successful fixed-price is built into the DNA and TBH I'm not sure they can make that change. I hope so, access to space needs more than one company
@olavf@AstroHawk The airplane side hasn’t been doing all that well either, with the KC-46 issues (I understand they may have lost up to $5 billion on that), the 737 MAX crashes, the Air Force One replacement…
The MAX problem is egregious and the deaths were preventable. The new system was fine [until it wasn't] but the pilots were never really told about the system and particularly not about the switch that turns it off. Boeing skipped training requirements by saying there were no significant changes to the aircraft.
The KC is back to the defense sector of their company and once again, fixed price contracts and at least some of it supplier issues.
Comparing the performance of #Boeing and #SpaceX in #CommercialCrew program, I've been saying for years the lesson for #NASA is to require future crew launch vendors to get incremental experience with cargo launches first, as progression of qualification. #NewSpace#StarlinerCFT
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