Insight: Boeing has lost its competitiveness in space race

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft program, which has still not made it to the International Space Station and returned safely to enable flights with manned crews, appears to be falling farther behind schedule, its primary competitor, Elon Musk’s Space X. Boeing has lost its competitiveness after numerous delays while its competition is successfully completing missions. The Boeing Starliner was supposed to launch on August 3rd when the mission was scrubbed due to 13 valves in the propulsion system that failed to open during a preflight test. Over the weekend, Boeing engineers were able to open 7 valves. The Boeing Company is still hopeful that it can complete the test flight before month-end, but that now appears unlikely as Boeing still does not know the root cause of the problem. The Starliner program, much like the KC-46A program, 787, and 737 MAX, has been plagued with problems for several years. In the meantime, the competition at Space X has already flown human spaceflight missions to the ISS, while Boeing is still waiting to complete the tests required before manned flight. Boeing has lost its competitiveness. The first uncrewed mission for Boeing was in December 2019 in which a software malfunction prevented the spacecraft from docking with the International Space Station. After being forced to stand down for 18 months, Boeing indicated that the problems were fixed and ready to fly. That didn’t happen when the valve problems emerged in preparation for the test flight. Industry specialists doubt whether Boeing can achieve its test flight by the end of the month, as the company still doesn’t understand what actually happened. But the International Space Station has only a few docking ports, and those are scheduled for cargo flights, including the port that the Starliner would need to use. As a result, the first opening after August will likely be in late November, further delaying the project. The Bottom Line: Boeing has had a series of high-profile failures in recent years. The Starliner is following the same path as the KC-46A tanker that can’t refuel the three most important aircraft operated by the US Air Force, the F-22, F35, and B2. The 787 Dreamliner experienced 300% cost overruns and a safety grounding, and the 737 MAX, which was grounded after two crashes caused by a faulty MCAS system has cost the company a massive loss of market share that may not be recoverable until the next generation of aircraft. This legacy of failures doesn’t provide a high degree of confidence that Boeing can bring in projects that meet specifications on time and on budget. Boeing hasn’t been able to deliver on its promises for some time, and it has cost the company billions of dollars and a massive reduction in the market capitalization of the firm. This latest failure indicates that the problems at Boeing are not restricted to a single division but are occurring in both civil and defense operations. Unfortunately, there are no signs that the company is making proactive changes to avoid what appear to be recurring engineering failures. Mighty Boeing has now been beaten, and beaten badly, by a start-up. This is clear evidence that Boeing has lost its competitiveness. Technological innovations typically begin with small companies and bright engineers but have tended to be brought to the mass market by large companies that acquire the use of those technologies and have the manufacturing know-how and sophistication to integrate them into their products. Boeing used to be one of those companies, prior to the acquisition of McDonnell-Douglas and the ensuing changes to the company’s culture. Boeing is apparently no longer can develop new products that meet requirements on time and on budget. That is truly a sad situation and an indictment of Boeing’s senior leadership team. There are now a substantial number of Boeing employees who admit, off the record, that they are now embarrassed to be working for Boeing and no longer trust in the quality of their products. This is something I never believed I would see in my lifetime. Starliner is now just another in a series of developmental failures from a company that once led the world in innovation and new product development. Fixing what went wrong at Boeing will likely take a new board, new leadership, and a generation to achieve. The problem is that Boeing doesn’t have a generation to spare, as the industry is undergoing major changes as emerging technologies for greener aircraft will change aviation as we know it dramatically. By 2035, its major competitor is promising new technology aircraft that will either be hydrogen or hybrid-electric powered. We haven’t seen such a technology shift since the introduction of the jet age for commercial aircraft. How will they compete since Boeing has lost its competitiveness? The Boeing that led the way in the late 1950s and 1960s with the 707, 727, 737, and 747, upon reflection, appears to be driven quite differently than today’s priorities at Boeing. Perhaps that focus, on engineering versus finance, explains the recent failures and why Boeing is unlikely to turn around its product development performance in the near term.

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