Boeing 737s could fade from Renton plant

CHICAGO, April 28 (UPI) -- Boeing Co. lost bids for two large U.S. military contracts this past year, but captured most of the military contracts it sought, company officials noted.

Victorious in nine of 11 major military contract bids in 2007, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said, "our hit rate has been pretty high," the Seattle Post-Dispatch reported Monday.

Boeing lost a contract bid last week to Northrop Grumman to build 40 or more unmanned military surveillance planes, the report said. And its Poseidon 8A fixed-wing aircraft project, a retrofit of as many as 100 737s, was begun at its plant in Renton, Wash., last month. It could be the last large fixed-wing military project for Renton, analysts said.

"This is pretty much it," said Richard Aboulafia of the industry consulting firm Teal Group.